Some employees of KazMunaiGas Exploration Production are staying away from work because they fear for their safety after violent clashes killed at least 10 people in a western Kazakh oil city, the company said yesterday.
London-listed KMG EP said the Kazakh Ministry of Interior Affairs was providing armed security at key oil production facilities following the clashes on Friday, when a crowd set fire to the headquarters of its Uzenmunaigas unit in the city of Zhanaozen.
The company said in a statement it was maintaining daily oil production levels by keeping employees working round the clock.
AFRAID
“Some Uzenmunaigas workers failed to appear for the night shift and the morning shift on Dec. 16 and 17,” KMG EP said. “This can be explained by the fact workers are afraid for their own security and the security of their family members.”
Public protests are scarce in Kazakhstan, Central Asia’s largest economy and oil producer, where Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has ruled with a firm hand for more than 20 years and has overseen massive foreign investment, mainly in oil and gas.
The unusually violent clashes in Zhanaozen, a city of 90,000 people about 150km inland from the Caspian Sea, marred celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of Kazakhstan’s independence from the Soviet Union.
SACKED WORKERS
Sacked oil workers clashed with riot police in the city’s central square. Ten people were killed and buildings and cars set on fire, Kazakh Prosecutor-General Askhat Daulbayev said.
Some KazMunaiGas EP workers began a months-long strike in May, demanding better pay and conditions. The company, which said the strikes were illegal, sacked 989 workers, but sporadic protests have been held in the town since the strike ended.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said at least some mobile phone and Internet access had been shut down in Zhanaozen and called on the Kazakh government to observe “human rights norms” as they restored order.
VULNERABLE
“Without a means of communication with the outside world, people in Zhanaozen are extremely vulnerable,” Human Rights Watch central Asia researcher Mihra Rittmann said.
“Even in times of unrest and violence, when police restore order they should do so without using excessive force,” she said in a statement.
The rights body also said about 100 people were detained and later released after a peaceful rally in the regional center of Aktau, a larger city on the Caspian coast.
Daulbayev said investigators led by the interior minister had traveled to Zhanaozen on the orders of the president “to take all necessary measures to preclude further criminal acts, identify and punish organizers of the disorder and restore public security in the town.”
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was