Kazakh crackdown on protesters continues

Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said today that law enforcement agencies are making progress in quelling the deadly protests that erupted earlier this week. But disruption to internet services in the country is making independent information hard to come by, with reports of continued fighting in the city of Almaty overnight suggesting the situation remains volatile.

"Constitutional order has been mainly restored in all regions," Tokayev told a meeting of security chiefs. "But terrorists are still using weapons, causing damage to civilian property. Therefore, [the] counter-terrorist operation will continue until the total destruction of the militants."

The Collective Security Treaty Organisation, a grouping of former Soviet Union countries led by Russia, has sent "peacekeeping forces" to Kazakhstan to help restore order after the protests turned violent, leaving dozens of civilians and security officers dead. The unrest started with a spike in the price of LPG, which is widely used as road fuel in Kazakhstan. But a government announcement on fuel price caps has failed to end the protests, suggesting that the public anger has its roots in wider political grievances.

The disorder is yet to have a material impact on Kazakhstan's energy sector, although trading sources say rail transportation of oil products in the country has faced some disruption and train traffic in some regions is completely blocked. The Chevron-led consortium that operates Kazakhstan's giant Tengiz oil field said on 6 January that output has been adjusted temporarily "due to logistics". A number of contractor employees had gathered at the field in support of the protests, it said.

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium, operator of the country's main crude export route, said operations are continuing as normal.

By James Keates