ALMATY - Kazakhstan's veteran leader, facing the biggest challenge to stability in his vast oil-producing nation, flew on Thursday to a western region hit by violent riots and sacked some of the country's top energy officials over the crisis.
President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s arrival in the heart of Kazakhstan’s oil industry coincided with growing international pressure on Kazakhstan to investigate the violence.
Nazarbayev’s press service said he had sacked the governor of Mangistau, the oil-rich region on the Caspian Sea, where protests for higher wages earlier this month by striking oilmen escalated into deadly clashes with riot police.
The heads of the Kazakh state oil company KazMunaiGas and a London-listed subsidiary were also dismissed.
At least 16 people died in and around the oil town of Zhanaozen on Dec. 16, according to official data, but witnesses have said the death toll could be higher.
The United States, the European Union and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe have all expressed concerns about the violence and urged Kazakhstan to carry out a transparent investigation.
The head of Kazakhstan’s mission to the European Union and NATO said the country had invited United Nations experts to take part in an investigation, but a group of Nazarbayev’s opponents told Reuters they had been denied entry to the town Zhanaozen.
A local newspaper based in the regional capital of Aktau said Nazarbayev had arrived in the city.
Baurzhan Mukhametzhanov, a former senator and interior minister, was appointed the new regional head of Mangistau to replace Krymbek Kusherbayev, a former presidential aide.
A resident of Aktau told Reuters by telephone that the square in front of the local government headquarters, occupied for days by sacked oil workers and riot police, was empty of protesters on Thursday for the first time since the weekend.
KazMunaiGas EP is the operator of the Uzenmunaigas field near the town of Zhanaozen, where Independence Day celebrations on a square occupied for months by sacked workers turned into a riot. Several buildings were burned down and police fired shots.
The authorities say police were forced to open fire after being attacked by "criminal elements" and "hooligans" who were threatening civilians. A 20-day curfew is in force in Zhanaozen until Jan. 5.
KMG EP expects its oil production to fall 8.5 percent short of target this year as a result of the strikes, although it said production had not been affected by the riots after workers returned to the fields under armed guard.
Oil production has not been affected in other regions of western Kazakhstan. North Caspian Operating Company, the consortium developing the massive Kashagan field in the Caspian Sea, was the latest company to say operations were unaffected.
KazMunaiGas said that after consultations with the prime minister its head, Bolat Akchulakov, had been sacked and replaced by Deputy Oil and Gas Minister Lyazzat Kiinov. Akchulakov had only been in the post since October.
The state company’s London-listed subsidiary KazMunaiGas Exploration Production , operating the fields where the strike took place, said in a statement its CEO Askar Balzhanov had resigned. He was replaced by Alik Aidarbayev, managing director of KazMunaiGas and chairman of the board at KazMunaiGas EP.
INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE
Prosecutor-General Askhat Daulbayev met Armen Harutyunyan, Central Asia representative of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, on Wednesday and invited U.N. experts to participate in the investigation, the prosecutor’s office said.
This was confirmed by Yerik Utembayev, Kazakh ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg and the head of its missions to the European Union and NATO, who spoke to reporters in Brussels.
Asked about the police role in the violence, Utembayev said: "When demonstrators go beyond their right of peaceful protest and start attacking onlookers, the police, the government has no choice but to react and to protect public safety."
Kazakhstan’s opposition has set up a commission of its own to independently investigate the events in western Kazakhstan. The group of more than 20 people includes writers, activists of non-governmental organisations, and public figures.
Six commission members tried to reach Zhanaozen on Wednesday after obtaining verbal permission from a deputy regional head.
But they were stopped by police halfway to the town and were forced to return to the regional capital Aktau, Vladimir Kozlov, leader of the unregistered Alga! opposition party, told Reuters. He was in the group that failed to reach Zhanaozen.
New York-based Human Rights Watch urged the authorities to investigate immediately allegations of torture and ill-treatment of detainees following the violence in Zhanaozen and to hold those responsible accountable.
The rights watchdog said the state of emergency restrictions and limited access to Zhanaozen, heightened concerns of mistreatment. It said it had received information that people in detention had been beaten.
An amateur video, apparently taken on a mobile phone from an apartment window on Dec. 16, was posted on the Internet on Tuesday showing police shooting at fleeing protesters. The clip’s authenticity could not be verified independently.
Radio Liberty reported that Erlan Idrisov, Kazakhstan’s ambassador to the United States, told a news conference in Washington on Wednesday that the Kazakh government was aware of the coverage and planned to investigate it.
