Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.19 / Trend, E. Kosolapova /
Advisor to the Kazakh President Yermukhamet Yertysbayev pointed at the responsibility for unrest in Zhanaozen as coming from the regime's opponents Mukhtar Ablyazov and Rakhat Aliyev, who live abroad.
"Their goal is a civil war at least in the west of the country," Mr Yertysbayev said in an interview with Russian 'Vedomosti'.
Mukhtar Ablyazov and Rakhat Aliyev refuted the accusations against them.
On Friday mass riots took place in the Kazakh oil town of Zhanaozen in the Mangistau region which killed 14 and injured about 90 people. President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a decree to impose a state of emergency in the area from Saturday.
On Dec.17 a group of people blocked the movement of the Mangyshlak-Aktobe passenger train at Shetpe railway station in the Mangistau region. According to a spokesman for the prosecutor general's office Nurdaulet Suindikov, the group that blocked the train chanted slogans supporting the rioters in Zhanaozen. As a result there was an hour long delay to several passenger and nine freight trains. Some disorder was also observed in Aktau on Dec.18.
Since May the Mangistau region has repeatedly experienced strikes by oil companies' employees, demanding higher wages. The court found the protest action illegal. The firms dismissed thousands of workers for striking and absenteeism. Some of the strikers returned to their jobs and new staff were hired in the place of those dismissed. The companies stated that oil production volume may drop because of the protests during the year.