MONDAY, JUNE 28, 2010


KLMNO THE WORLD Violence-racked Kyrgyzstan approves new constitution


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A factory worker casts his ballot in Osh. Officials said that more than two-thirds of eligible voters went to the polls.


TIGHT SECURITY FOR REFERENDUM


Government hopes vote will legitimize its presence


by Philip P. Pan


moscow — The people of Kyrgyzstan voted Sunday to adopt a new constitu- tion in a referendum that appeared to proceed calmly despite smoldering ten- sions after ethnic clashes left hundreds dead two weeks ago.


By holding the vote without violence


— and winning 90 percent support for its proposals — the country’s fragile pro- visional government can claim a popu- lar mandate that may boost its authority and help it to take greater control of re- gions still loyal to Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the recently ousted president. “This is no longer an interim govern- ment but a legitimate government,” said Roza Otunbayeva, the leader of the op- position coalition that seized power in a bloody revolt in April. “We are proud of our people. We are proud of our country, which made this choice at a difficult hour.”


Speaking to reporters in the capital, Bishkek, after traveling to the riot-torn


city of Osh to cast her ballot, Otunbaye- va said the public had voted overwhelm- ingly to establish Central Asia’s first par- liamentary democracy, to schedule elec- tions for October and to let her serve as acting president until the end of next year.


Election officials said that more than


two-thirds of eligible voters went to the polls under tight security — a remark- able turnout, given the recent clashes in the country’s south between ethnic Kyr- gyz and minority Uzbeks, in which about 400,000 people were driven from their homes and as many as 2,000 were killed.


The government’s critics cast doubt on the official turnout figures, estimat- ing that closer to one-third actually vot- ed. But election observers reported no serious irregularities. “Voter turnout was much higher than


what we expected it would be because of the massive riots,” said Dinara Oshurak- hunova, head of a local monitoring group, For Democracy and Civil Society Coalition, in televised remarks. But the level of participation in Uzbek neighborhoods, many of which were burned to the ground in the clashes, was unclear. Uzbeks had generally support- ed the provisional government, but they


Israeli envoy denies harsh words about U.S. ties ‘I said shift, not rift,’


Oren said the briefing, given in He-


Michael Oren says, despite reports to the contrary


by Glenn Kessler


Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren de- nied Sunday that he had told Israeli dip- lomats a “tectonic rift” was emerging be- tween the United States and Israel — in- cendiary words first reported in the Israeli press and then repeated in media outlets around the globe. In an interview, Oren said that he had


spoken of a “tectonic shift in American foreign and domestic policies” under President Obama and that “Israel has to adjust to that.” But he suggested that his description was much more benign than that reported by anonymous sources who heard his briefing, explaining that he was merely emphasizing that Obama is an ambitious change agent not satis- fied with the status quo.


brew at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, was no different from what he often says to various groups. “I said shift, not rift, but that may be a subtlety that escaped the Israeli ear,” he said. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz, citing


five Israeli diplomats who either heard Oren speak or were informed of his re- marks, said he painted “a dark picture” of U.S.-Israel relations as Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu prepares to meet with Obama in Washington on July 6. “Relations are in the state of a tectonic rift in which continents are drifting apart,” Oren was quoted as say- ing.


Oren noted on Sunday that he gave


the Jerusalem Post a lengthy interview last week that he said reflected the actu- al tenor of his talk at the Foreign Min- istry. In that interview, published on Fri- day, Oren said that the Obama adminis- tration was “as good if not better” on Israel than “many previous administra- tions,” and that White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, often portrayed in


suffered most of the casualties in the violence and are deeply suspicious of the authorities. Uzbek activists carried ballot boxes to villages where tens of thousands of displaced residents are camped. Otunbayeva’s government has strug- gled to maintain order since coming to power in Kyrgyzstan’s second revolution in five years. The instability has caused alarm in the United States and Russia and raised questions about the future of a key U.S. air base in northern Kyrgyz- stan that supplies NATO forces in Af- ghanistan. The government’s control of southern


PHOTOS BY SERGEI GRITS/ASSOCIATED PRESS Ethnic Kyrgyz refugees and election officials pray after voting in a refugee camp on the outskirts of the city of Osh. As many as 2,000 people died in recent ethnic clashes.


Kyrgyzstan, a Bakiyev stronghold, and the security forces there appears espe- cially shaky. Many Uzbeks have accused local army and police units of tolerating and participating in the looting and slaughter in their neighborhoods. The Organization for Security and Co-


operation in Europe was considering a plan to send a neutral police force to the region to help defuse tensions, Otun- bayeva said Sunday. “The interim gov- ernment favors this idea and believes that participation of a third force in set- tling the conflict appears to be neces- sary,” she said.


panp@washpost.com


the Israeli media as the “bad guy” on Is- rael issues, was actually “a great asset.” “There are disagreements, I’m not go- ing to be Pollyannaish,” Oren told the Je- rusalem Post. “But there are two qualifi- ers you have to attach. One, we have had disagreements with other administra- tions in the past, and the litmus test with the relationship is not whether there are disagreements, but how you approach the disagreements.” Oren on Sunday emphatically denied as “a lie” a report that he had suggested in the briefing that Obama operated out of cold calculation, not emotional at- tachment to Israel. But he confirmed that he did say Obama runs a very tight ship, with key decision-making done at the White House, not the State Depart- ment or other agencies. “This is one of the most centralized administrations in post-World War II history,” said Oren, a historian who wrote a best-selling book on U.S. rela- tions in the Middle East. The Obama administration has chal- lenged Netanyahu’s government on is-


DIGEST THE VATICAN Pope criticizes Belgians for ‘deplorable’ raids


Pope Benedict XVI lashed out Sunday at what he called the “deplorable” raids carried out by Belgian police, who detained bishops, confiscated computers, opened a crypt and took church documents as part of an investigation into priestly sex abuse. Benedict made a rare personal


PIER PAOLO CITO/ASSOCIATED PRESS Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Sunday.


entry into the escalating diplo- matic dispute with Belgium, issu- ing a message of solidarity to the head of the Belgian bishops con- ference and other bishops who were detained Thursday. He said justice must take its course, but he also asserted the right of the Roman Catholic Church to investigate clerical abuse alongside civil law enforce- ment authorities. It was the first time the pope commented on the raids, and his message to Monsi- gnor André Joseph Léonard capped a daily ratcheting up of the Vatican’s criticism.


Belgium’s justice minister defended the searches Sunday, saying that the bishops were treated normally and that the search warrant was legitimate. In the raids, police searched the home and former office of ex-archbishop Godfried Danneels, taking documents and his personal computer, just as the country’s nine bish- ops were starting their monthly meeting. The men were held for nine hours and — along with diocese staff members — had to surrender their cellphones. In addition, po- lice opened at least one tomb of a prelate — which has particularly galled the Vatican. —Associated Press


AFGHANISTAN


NATO foresees no delays after McChrystal’s ouster The NATO-led command stressed Sun-


day that military operations to secure vast areas of Afghanistan would not be delayed by the ouster of its top command- er and mounting casualties. To reinforce the message, NATO an- nounced that more than 600 Afghan and international troops were battling al- Qaeda and Taliban forces Sunday in the eastern province of Konar, which borders Pakistan. Three members of the allied force were killed in the fighting, includ- ing two Americans, a military statement said. NATO and U.S. forces are awaiting the


arrival of the new commander, Gen. Da- vid H. Petraeus, who is taking over from Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal. There has been concern that the lead- ership shake-up will further slow a push into the volatile south that has been de- layed by weeks in some areas and months in others. But a NATO spokesman, Brig. Gen. Josef Blotz, told reporters in Kabul that the worries are unwarranted and that the military is not pausing because of the changes. “We will not miss a beat in our opera- tions to expand security here in Afghani-


stan,” Blotz said. He added that Petraeus was expected in Kabul in the next seven to 10 days.


—Associated Press ISRAEL


Thousands march seeking deal for captive soldier The family of a captured Israeli soldier


set out Sunday, flanked by hundreds of supporters, on a 12-day march to Jerusa- lem to press the government to make a deal with Hamas militants to win his free- dom. Sgt. Gilad Shalit was taken captive four years ago during a cross-border raid by militants from the Gaza Strip. His par- ents say they will camp outside Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s official residence until the government wins the release of their 23-year-old son, who hasn’t been seen in person since he was seized. “Today we say, ‘We won’t wait any lon-


ger, we won’t wait any longer in our home,’ ” Shalit’s father, Noam Shalit, said before the start of the march. Israel’s leaders, he added, “have to put an end to this sad saga.” Thousands, including supermodel Bar


Refaeli and local celebrities, are expected to join the march from the Shalits’ home


in northern Israel to Jerusalem. A police spokesman said about 2,000


supporters accompanied the family members as they left their home in the small community of Mitzpe Hila on the Israel-Lebanon border. Many wore yellow ribbons or T-shirts bearing the soldier’s photo.


—Associated Press


N. Korea rejects military talks on sunken warship: North Korea said Sunday that it has rejected a proposal by the American- led U.N. Command to hold military talks on the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on Pyongyang. The U.N. Command, which oversees the armistice that ended the three-year Korean War in 1953, has launched an investigation of the sinking.


Syria asks Brazil to join peace talks: Syr- ian President Bashar al-Assad has invited Brazil to help negotiate peace in the Mid- dle East, a sign that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has strengthened his coun- try’s standing abroad. In an interview in Brazil’s Estado de S. Paulo newspaper published Sunday, Assad said he would discuss the possibility of Brazil helping bring Israel to the table with other Arab countries to defuse tensions stemming from its Gaza Strip policy. —From news services


MARVIN JOSEPH/THE WASHINGTON POST


Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu visited with President Obama at the White House last year. The two leaders are set to reprise their meeting next week.


sues such as West Bank settlement con- struction. This month, Washington pres- sured Israel to change its policy toward the Gaza Strip, which has been kept in recent years under a strict blockade. Is-


rael recently announced that it would begin allowing more goods to enter the territory, which is controlled by the Is- lamist group Hamas. kesslerg@washpost.com


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