Kyrgyzstan update -- The Limits of Reform, or Too Much, Too Soon?

Christian Lowe reports:

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan's new rulers sought Sunday to avert a split in their ranks after their lightning coup, but tension remained high with fresh warnings of possible civil war in the impoverished Central Asian state.

Thursday's revolt left the ex-Soviet republic with two rival parliaments and clear strains among opposition leaders, united only by the desire to get rid of veteran President Askar Akayev.

Felix Kulov, the new security chief who has persuaded police to return to work and ordered them to open fire on looters, suggested he would not run against acting president Kurmanbek Bakiev in a June 26 presidential vote.

The renewed police presence appeared to bring calm overnight in the capital Bishkek that was hit by a looting rampage after Akayev was swept from power by mass protests.
....
Unlike groups that swept to power in the other ex-Soviet states of Georgia and Ukraine, the Kyrgyz opposition lacks a unifying figure. [a point I made in an earlier post]

It embraces many former allies of Akayev -- himself now in refuge in Russia. But they are divided by personal and regional clan rivalries, traditional for the mainly Muslim nation of 5 million.
....
Analysts say popular resentment against poverty was the main catalyst for the protests that led to Akayev's ouster.

Feuding to fill the power vacuum has already broken out in parliament, where deputies of the outgoing chamber and those elected in discredited parliamentary elections vied for legitimacy in competing sessions....

Not too encouraging is it? Of course this is a Reuters report and therefore it emphasizes the negative. Still we might be seeing the limits of democratic reform in the region.

There are two hopeful observations buried in the report.

Lowe reports:

The new leaders have survived an initial challenge from an ousted interior minister, Keneshbek Dushenbayev, who tried to lead a mass march to Bishkek against the coup Saturday.

and,

Although Kyrgyzstan has a history of ethnic bloodshed, confessional, ethnic or regional rivalries have so far played little role in the crisis.

As in so many things, the future is clouded and all we can say right now is...., keep tuned.

AND THERE'S THIS...

The WaPo suggests that much of the trouble resulted from the speed of the revolution. Nobody was prepared to see the government crumble as quickly as it did and when the protesters found themselves in control they didn't know what to do next. The result has been confusion and disorder.

Read it here.