The Republic of Central Asia has experienced an outbreak of violence since the beginning of the year. And energy prices are the most obvious cause.
“I gave the order to shoot to kill without warning.” In a television allowance this Friday, President Kassym-Jomart Tokaïev a threatened the demonstrators protesting in Kazakhstan since the beginning of the year.
In recent days, administrative buildings have been set on fire, a state of emergency has been declared across the country and the internet has been cut off for the population. The dead are counted “in tens”, according to witnesses on the spot. The first demonstrations took place on January 2 in the gas town of Janaozen (west of the country) before reaching the whole of Kazakhstan.
L’Reuters news agency indicates that discontent is the fruit a surge in LPG prices at service stations. In this country of 19 million inhabitants, 70 to 90% of motorists run “on gas”. the local car market is dominated by Hyundai, Lada and Chevrolet. The latter brand is growing rapidly thanks to the opening of a local factory, through a partnership with the manufacturer UZAuto, belonging to the government of neighboring Uzbekistan.
1is last January, Kazakhstan implemented its new price policy for butane and propane. To counter the massive export of its own gas reserves and the shortages in the country’s stations, the tariffs so far set by the government have been “liberalized”.
Result at the pump: the price of LPG has doubled, reaching 120 tenge (or 0.24 euro). In this country of 19 million inhabitants, the average monthly salary is 500 euros. Inflation exceeded 9% in 2021. The increase in fuel prices has also had an impact on food prices.
Wednesday, the government announced the return of a fixed price of fuels and essential supplies for 6 months. But the protest movement quickly overwhelmed the issue of purchasing power. The demonstrators in particular demand the possibility of electing “directly the local governors” or “the change of regime”, according to Sacha Koulaeva, professor at Sciences Po Paris, in an interview with our colleagues from RFI.
Photo: protesters in the city of Aktobe (Kazakhstan), credit Esetok – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons
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