Otunbayeva
Tells
Press Justice
Had to Wait,
UN Accountable
Kyrgyz?
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 22 --
A week before
she steps down
from the
Kyrgyz
presidency,
Roza
Otunbayeva
came on
Tuesday to the
UN which used
to
employ her.
Inner
City Press
asked Ms.
Otunbayeva
about the
violence in
2010, mostly
redirected
against Uzbeks
in Osh and
Jalal Abad in
the south, and
about
criticism in
the
International
Inquiry headed
up by Kimmo
Kiljunen of
her handing of
accountability
for the
violence.
Otunbayeva
said
that she only
had power a
year and seven
months, as a
"crisis
manager." She
said that her
successor
Atambayev will
work on the
issues of the
445 Kyrgyz
judges,
perhaps
replacing
some.
Her
answer rambled
into issue of
gender
balance, that
the prosecutor
general is a
woman,
as is the head
of the central
bank.
Finally
she
mentioned the
Kiljunen
report, saying
that "it is on
the
Internet," and
that the
government
cooperated.
But Kiljunen
was
barred from
the country --
at
the time, UN
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
remained
silent on this
blockage, his
spokesman
saying that
Kiljunnen's
was "not a UN
report" --
and many of
the
recommendations
are not being
acted on.
During the
recent
elections,
online news
agencies were
denied press
accreditation.
Some
countries are
favorites, or
have amassed
good will, and
Kyrgyzstan
like Liberia
is
such a
country. The
UN wanted to
claim credit
for its
dubious good
work during
the violence,
and so was not
critical
afterward.
(c) UN Photo
Ban Ki-moon
& Roza Otunbaeva,
Uzbeks not
shown
In
other answers,
Otunbayeva
bristled when
asked why her
country didn't
give in to
Pakistan's
request that
it drop out of
balloting for
a seat on the
UN
Security
Council in
2012-13.
She said
Kyrgyzstan
announced its
candidacy in
1997, Pakistan
only in 2005.
She asked how
she could
have told her
people they
were dropping
out -- are we
a failing
country or
what?
She
praised
Turkey's
Erdogan, to
whom Ban
Ki-moon was so
quickly to
apologize
after UN
Security
personnel were
injured by
Erdogan's
entourage;
she
said Japan
didn't step
forward with
aid, trade or
tax offers
like
China did. She
was real
politik,
and says
she'll stay in
Kyrgyzstan
after she
steps down.
But will there
be
accountability,
and justice
for Uzbeks?
We'll see.
, 
