U.S. Ignores Kyrgyzstan Rights Abuses

theGlobalReport
29 July 2009

Before Kyrgyz president and US ally Kurmanbek Bakiyev won his hotly disputed reelection this past week, over the past year his government consolidated control. Many opposition politicians and independent journalists were arrested, prosecuted, attacked and even killed.
But the United States has remained silent in response to this wave of violence, apparently wary of jeopardizing its sprawling air base there, which supports the mission in Afghanistan. On the contrary, the Obama administration has sought to woo the Kyrgyz president since he said in February that he would close the Manas base.