Unrest-hit Kazakhstan says situation now stable

Almaty

KAZAKHSTAN authorities said on Sunday that they had stabilised the situation across the country after the deadliest outbreak of violence in 30 years of independence, and troops from a Russian-led military alliance were guarding "strategic facilities".

Security and intelligence officials briefed President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev that they were continuing "clean-up" actions in what he has called a huge counter-terrorism operation across the oil-producing former Soviet republic that borders Russia and China.

Dozens of people have been killed, thousands detained and public buildings torched over the past week, prompting Tokayev to issue shoot-to-kill orders to end unrest that he has blamed on bandits and terrorists.

At Tokayev's invitation, the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) sent troops to restore order, an intervention that comes at a time of high tension in Russia-US relations ahead of talks on the Ukraine crisis.

"A number of strategic facilities have been transferred under the protection of the united peacekeeping contingent of the CSTO member states," the presidential office said in a statement detailing the security briefing chaired by Tokayev. It did not identify the facilities.

Russia's space agency said security had been strengthened around Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome, used by Russia for space launches. The protests disrupted production at the Chevron-operated Tengiz oil field.

"The situation has been stabilised in all regions of the country," the presidential office said, adding that law enforcement agencies had seized back control of administrative buildings and vital services were being restored.

What began a week ago with demonstrations against a fuel price rise exploded into a wider protest against Tokayev's government and the man he replaced as president of the resource-rich former Soviet republic, Nursultan Nazarbayev.

The violence has hurt Kazakhstan's image as a tightly controlled and stable country, which it has used to attract hundreds of billions of dollars of Western investment in its oil and minerals industries.

It has opened a rift in the ruling elite, with Tokayev fighting to consolidate his authority after sacking key officials and removing Nazarbayev from a powerful role as head of the Security Council.

State television said 2 soldiers were among those killed, and 163 had been wounded. As security operations continued, it said about 400 people had been arrested in the city of Shymkent near the border with Uzbekistan.

In Almaty, the biggest city where much of the violence was concentrated, normal life appeared to be returning on Sunday although with fewer cars than usual. The Internet remained heavily restricted, with access only available to the presidential website and a few local news websites. REUTERS