Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev visited Almaty on Wednesday January 12, for the first time since the deadly riots last week, vowing to repair the damage in the country's largest city.
"
The task now is to rebuild the city in the shortest possible time (...) I have no doubt that the city will be restored
", he said on the spot, during a government meeting, according to a statement. of the Kazakh Presidency.
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This visit comes on the eve of the start of the announced withdrawal of the military contingent of some 2,000 men, mostly dispatched by Russia to support the power in place during the riots. In a statement, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CTSC), the alliance led by Moscow, confirmed Wednesday evening that the withdrawal of the contingent would begin Thursday and "
will be completed within ten days
."
The Kazakh president met during the day in Nur-Sultan, the Kazakh capital, the secretary general of the CSTO, Slanislav Zas.
Expressing his gratitude, Kassym-Jomart Tokaïev considered that the Russian and allied forces had played a “
very important
” role in stabilizing the situation and had “
great psychological importance in repelling the aggression of terrorists and bandits
”.
"
The mission can be considered very successful
," he added, according to the statement from the Kazakhstan presidency.
Read also Riots in Kazakhstan: "dozens" of dead, Russian troops on the spot
Riots of
foreign "
terrorist " aggression
According to local media, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also spoke in Almaty with relatives of members of the security forces killed in the riots and visited the wounded in hospital. According to the presidency, he wanted "
to personally assess the extent of the consequences of the terrorist attack on the largest city in the country
".
Almaty airport, closed since last week after being ransacked, is due to reopen Thursday for domestic and international flights, according to the Kazakhstan Civil Aviation Committee.
If the riots are qualified as a foreign "
terrorist
" aggression by the authorities, the violence erupted after demonstrations against the rise in fuel prices, against a background of deteriorating living standards and endemic corruption.
The most serious violence took place in Almaty with exchanges of fire, the looting of shops and the burning of the town hall and the presidential residence.
The unrest has left dozens dead, injured hundreds, and led to the arrests of more than 10,000 people.
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