Astana: Kazakhstan on Tuesday lifted a state of
emergency in its riot-torn Caspian Sea town of Zhanaozen,
where clashes between striking oil workers and police left at
least 16 dead last month.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev ordered the state of
emergency to last until 7 am, local time, today. He announced
Friday it would not be extended because the "situation had
taken a normal course."
The violence in Zhanaozen and the wider Mangistau region
on the Caspian Sea, where the Central Asian country pumps much
of its oil, was the bloodiest in Kazakhstan's post-Soviet
history.
Strongman Nazarbayev initially blamed the bloodshed on
militants, but he later sacked several energy executives and
even his son-in-law Timur Kulibayev, who headed a state
holding firm with stakes in the companies hit by strikes.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 15:44