Azerbaijan, Baku, May 14 / Trend V. Zhavoronkova /
The Kyrgyz interim government should demonstrate a clear example that positive change is coming very soon, U.S expert on Central Asia Bruce Pannier said.
"In my opinion, what the interim government really needs is a clear example that positive change is coming very soon, expert told 'Freedom' radio via e-mail.
The situation in Kyrgyzstan destabilized again. On Thursday evening supporters of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev ousted in early April seized the regional administration building in Osh region. In the morning the Committee for the Protection of the ex-president said that the administration building of Osh region is still in the hands of Bakiyev's supporters.
Later it became known that the regional administration building in Osh region was still delivered under the control of supporters of the Kyrgyz interim government. According to Interfax correspondent on the spot, ex-President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's supporters left the building, but remained on the main square.
More than 1,000 supporters of the interim government gathered on Friday in front of the Osh Drama Theater. It is expected that new authorities' supporters of the villages of Osh region will join them. Meanwhile, rallies are held in Jalal-Abad in support of Bakiyev.
Moreover, there are reports that an armed brawl occurred between supporters of the interim government and President Kurmanbek Bakiyev near the administration building at Jalal-Abad in southern Kyrgyzstan. There is information about the wounded.
Expert said that the interim government should immediately begin to implement reforms to permanently stabilize the situation in the country.
The interim government must show the people of the country that there is progress on at least one of their big issues, he said.
The interim government has many problems in Kyrgyzstan left after Bakiyev. It's a bad sign in the sense that it shows there is still very vocal opposition in some parts of southern Kyrgyzstan about the events in April that chased President Bakiyev from office, he said.
"The socio-economic situation is not good and added to that is Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and (last I heard) China's the continued closure of their borders with Kyrgyzstan, cutting off trade to and from Kyrgyzstan. Having those sorts of neighbors at a time like now complicates matters for Kyrgyzstan's interim government to say the least," he said.
Moreover, one of the main problems in Kyrgyzstan is a shortage of electricity
The weather is better and presumably the country's hydro-electric power plants will be supplying regular electricity for the coming months but winter will come and the interim government needs to do something now to prepare for winter months.
Bakiyev's government rationed power every winter, schools were often on holiday for weeks in the heart of winter to save electricity. And the electricity needs to be available at a cost the people can afford.
The interim government has spent a lot of time talking about what form of constitution the country should have.
"A few of those officials need to visit a hydro-power plant and ask about the electricity situation or travel to some farms and ask the farmers what their predictions are for this year's crop, and then ask what the interim government can do to help," expert said..
But at the moment the interim government might do well to give the people tangible reasons for hope of a better tomorrow rather than publicize work on a document, however vital to the country's future, that in the end only a small percentage of the population will ever read, expert said.
"As to Bakiyev's return to power, I would not want to say that is impossible but it is unlikely," expert said.
Besides opposition to Bakiyev within Kyrgyzstan, there is also Russia, the United States and the OSCE that helped arrange for Bakiyev to be taken out of Kyrgyzstan. I do not see why any of those three parties would favor Bakiyev's return to power in Kyrgyzstan, expert said.
"Taking into account that Russia in particular opposes Bakiyev's return, it is hard to imagine Bakiyev could get back to Kyrgyzstan, not just politically but physically. With no permission to fly through Russian air space Bakiyev would have to take a very long way around to get home," expert said.