Military

29 January 2003

Text: U.S. "Increasingly Concerned" About Kyrgyz Reform Process

(Boucher: recent actions "damaging to the development of civil
society") (370)
The United States is "increasingly concerned about the constitutional
reform process underway in the Kyrgyz Republic," State Department
Spokesman Richard Boucher said January 29, adding that the referendum
scheduled for February 2 "will not permit adequate time for public
discussion of the government's draft constitutional amendments."
While Boucher welcomed the stated willingness of authorities to
address U.S. concerns, he characterized recent actions by Kyrgyz
government officials and President Askar Akayev as "damaging to the
development of civil society in the Kyrgyz Republic."
Following is the text of his statement:
(begin text)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE 
Office of the Spokesman 
January 29, 2003
Statement by Richard Boucher, Spokesman
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM PROCESS IN THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC
The United States is increasingly concerned about the constitutional
reform process underway in the Kyrgyz Republic. The constitutional
referendum scheduled for February 2 will not permit adequate time for
public discussion of the government's draft constitutional amendments.
On January 27, Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs
Beth Jones met with Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev. We welcome the
President's commitment to introduce changes after the referendum is
held that would address concerns about protections for human rights
and balance of powers, and we appreciate the willingness of Kyrgyz
Government officials and President Akayev to engage in frank
discussions of our concerns. We view, however, their recent actions as
damaging to the development of civil society in the Kyrgyz Republic.
President Akayev launched the constitutional reform process in
September 2002 in order to shift the balance of power from the
executive to the legislative and judicial branches of government.
Initial positive steps included a Constitutional Council in which a
wide spectrum of political representatives worked to form a broad
consensus on constitutional reforms.
However, the new Constitutional draft published on January 13 does not
appear to take into account many of the views of the Constitutional
Council, thereby seriously undermining this broadly representative
process. The draft also contains a number of provisions that fall
short of international standards and would further concentrate power
in the presidency and weaken the role of civil society.
(end text)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)