Kyrgyz President Fires Security Officials

Prime Minister Feliks Kulov (left) and President Kurmanbek Bakiev (file photo) (AFP) 8 February 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev today fired two top security officials.

Presidential spokesman Dosali Esenaliev said Bakiev dismissed the
deputy secretary of the Security Council, Vyacheslav Khan, the day
before a session of the Security Council, which oversees the army,
police, and security agencies.

Bakiev also sacked the first deputy chief of the National Security Service, Abdijalil Jamalov. The dismissals follow demands by parliamentarians for the two to be removed from their posts.

Kyrgyzstan's
law enforcement agencies are currently being overhauled, after Kyrgyz
Prime Minister Feliks Kulov on 25 January accused police and security
forces of a total failure to combat organized crime and corruption.

(RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service, with AP, Kabar)