Rais wa Ukraine Viktor Yanukovychameondoka katika IKULU ya nchi hiyo na kutoa mwanya kwa waandamanaji kuvamia katika ikulu ya rais na makazi yake katika mji mkuu wa Ukraine KIEV.
Nchi hiyo iliyokuwa sehemu ya muungano wa Urusi miaka 25 iliyopita, imekumbwa na machafuko yasiyokoma takriban kwa mwezi mmoja sasam ambapo wafuasi wa upinzani wanataka nchi hiyo ijiunge na umoja wa ulaya wakati wengine wakitaka ibaki na Urusi. Juzi waandamanaji zaidi ya 77 waliuwawa hivyo kufanya hasira ya umma kuwa kubwa zaidi. Jana kwa msaada wa Uomja wa Ulaya Rais Viktor alifanya mapatano na wapinzani ili kumaliza mzozo huo lakini waandamanaji walitaka ajihzulu kabisa.
Rais huyo amekimbilia upande wa mashariki mwa nchi ambapo anaungwa mkono na waia wenye kuongea kirusi. Sasa Ukraine ipo katika hatari ya kugawanyika vipande viwili, kimoja kinachopenda kujiunga na umoja wa ulaya na kingine kinachopenda kubakia na Urusi.
Leo waandamanaji wameudhibiti mji mkuu Kiev pamoja na ikulu ya nchi hiyo
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Protesters
took control of Ukraine's capital on Saturday, seizing the president's
office as parliament sought to oust him and form a new government. An
aide to President Viktor Yanukovych said he had left Kiev for his
support base in the country's Russian-speaking east, but that he has no
intention of abandoning power.
In a special
parliament session, lawmakers warned that the country risks being split
in two. The country's western regions want to be closer to the EU and
have rejected Yanukovych's authority in many cities, while eastern
Ukraine — which accounts for the bulk of the nation's economic output —
favors closer ties with Russia.
"The people have risen up and
achieved their goals. The authorities are crumbling. Victory is in
sight," 31-year-old construction worker Sviatoslav Gordichenko said
outside a residential compound believed to belong to Yanukovych,
Hanna
Herman, a close Yanukovych ally, told The Associated Press that the
president was spending Saturday visiting Kharkiv, a city in Ukraine's
east which is the heart of his support base.
"As
much as some people want it, he has no intention to leave the country,"
Herman said. She said the president was to meet voters in the region
and make a televised address.
The
trip comes a day after Yanukovych and opposition leaders signed a
European-brokered agreement aimed at resolving the months-old political
crisis that has killed scores and injured hundreds. The agreement calls
for early elections and constitutional reforms that reduce the
president's powers.
The protesters, who are
angry over corruption and want Ukraine to move toward Europe rather than
Russia, claimed full control of Kiev and took up positions around the
president's office and a grandiose residential compound believed to be
his, though he never acknowledged it.
At
the sprawling suburban Kiev compound, protesters stood guard and
blocked more radical elements among them from entering the building,
fearing unrest. Moderate protesters have sought to prevent their
comrades from looting or taking up the weapons that have filled Kiev in
recent weeks.
The compound
became an emblem of the secrecy and arrogance that defines Yanukovych's
presidency, painting him as a leader who basks in splendor while his
country's economy suffers and his opponents are jailed. An Associated
Press journalist visiting the grounds Saturday saw manicured lawns, a
pond, several luxurious houses and the big mansion itself, an elaborate
confection of five stories with marble columns.
Protesters attached a Ukrainian flag to a lamppost at the compound, shouting: "Glory to Ukraine!"
A group of protesters in helmets and shields stood guard at the president's office Saturday. No police were in sight.
Protest leader Andriy Parubiy was quoted by the Interfax news
agency as saying that protesters were in full control of the capital on
Saturday. Police on Friday retreated from their positions in Kiev's
government district, and the night passed quietly.
Ukraine's
parliament, only a day ago controlled by Yanukovych supporters, seemed
to be taking control of the country's leadership.
It
was considering whether to impeach him or force his resignation, and
whether to set a quick date for new elections to end the three-month
standoff that has turned into a national crisis over Ukraine's identity
and direction.
Despite
significant concessions by Yanukovych on Friday, protesters said his
offer to hold elections late this year isn't enough.
"Resign!
Resign!" chanted protesters on Independence Square, the nucleus of the
protest movement. Protesters at the square, known as the Maidan, heaped
flowers on coffins of those killed in clashes with police Thursday.
In parliament, opposition
leaders Vitaly Klitschko and Oleh Tyahnybok called for discussion of
impeachment or forcing the president's resignation. Opposition leader
Arseny Yatsenyuk called for naming a new government.
The
parliament speaker — Yanukovych ally Volodymyr Rybak — submitted his
resignation, citing ill health. The president's representative in
parliament warned against splitting the country in two, an outcome that
worries many but is increasingly seeming like a possibility.
The
president's concessions came as part of a deal Friday intended to end
violence that killed scores and left hundreds wounded in Kiev this week
as snipers opened fire on protesters. It was the worst violence in
Ukraine's modern history.
Neither side won all the points it
sought in Friday's deal, and some vague conditions left room for strong
disputes down the road.
The
agreement signed Friday calls for presidential elections to be moved up
from March 2015 to no later than December, but many protesters said that
is far too late. And it does not address the issue that triggered the
protests in November — Yanukovych's abandonment of closer ties with the
European Union in favor of a bailout deal with longtime ruler Russia.
The standoff between the
government and protesters escalated this week, as demonstrators clashed
with police and snipers opened fire in the worst violence the country
has seen since the breakup of the Soviet Union a quarter-century ago.
The Health Ministry put the death toll at 77 and some opposition figures
said it's even higher.
The
parliament on Friday quickly approved a measure that could free
Yanukovych's arch-rival and former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who
has served 2 ½ years on a conviction of abuse of office, charges that
domestic and Western critics have denounced as a political vendetta.
Legislators
voted to decriminalize the count under which Tymoshenko was imprisoned,
meaning that she is no longer guilty of a criminal offense.
However,
Yanukovych must still sign that bill into law, and then Tymoshenko's
lawyers would have to ask the court for her release from prison in
Kharkiv, the city controlled by Yanukovych's loyalists where the
opposition has little public following.
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