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| Kiev maidan before and after the protest. |
Politics is a very interesting thing. A few months ago, there was a major uprising at the Maidan in Kiev, the people (well mostly western Ukrainians) decided to topple their democratically elected Government. But it was not a straightforward and easy procedure.
First, they set barricades, then they burnt down a huge part of the square (which was one of the beautiful places in the country), they took over government buildings, walked around in masks and armed with weapons; all these just to achieve their goal. The Opposition saw it as a chance to go into power and they declared it a revolution, the west supported them with all their might with prominent U.S State officials such Sen. John McCain coming all the way to kiev to cheer on the protesters.
At last, the goal was achieved, the president was ousted and those who were the Major players ("the Right Sector") were hailed as heroes. These Right Sector protesters were responsible for most of the destruction that took place in kiev, they were the ones who took power from the Yanukovych administration and handed it to this present government with their leaders being Dmytro Yarosh and Oleksandr Muzychko.
Well unfortunately it didn't stop there, these right wingers went ahead to terrorize anyone who could pose a threat to them, beating them up and forcing them to resign from their positions, while cementing the place of the newly imposed government in power. All these happened and no one said a thing except Russia, who were actively criticizing these inhumane actions.
But as they say, Power consumes. Not long after coming into power, the new government freed all the aggressors who were arrested during the protests by then president Viktor Yanukovych, started implementing policies that will see them move closer to E.U and took Russian Language out of the Nations Official languages. This was a Bad Move! Millions of people in Ukraine, especially the eastern Ukraine communicate in mostly Russian language. In prominent regions such as Kharkiv, Lugansk, Donetsk, Odessa, Dnipropetrovsk, the Russian Language is used for day to day activities in school, work, hospitals, market and even in homes. A lot of Ukrainians living in these parts of the country don't understand the native Ukrainian Language, so to them, taking away the only language they communicate with was a sign of betrayal by those in power and they reacted by taking to the streets and raising Russian flags in protest of the decision.
Crimea, who have always had the closest tie to Russia decided that they wanted out. They declared themselves independent of Kiev and agreed to hold a referendum that would see them leave Ukraine and re-join Russia, inviting the "OSCE MISSION" to monitor the referendum, but of course they refused. Despite all the negative waves they received they went ahead to hold the referendum and the result was overwhelming. Russia took Crimea back and the west reacted with sanctions.
With Crimea gone, other regions like Lugansk, Donetsk and Kharkov started protesting even more violently and kiev's reply was to remove their respective mayors and appoint oligarch's who the citizens hate, to be their new mayors. Well this didn't calm things down as the new Mayor of Donetsk Oleksandr Lukianchenko responded to pro-russian protests with violence.
The protesters weren't the only problem the new government had to deal with, the Economy was collapsing and the right sector were becoming uncontrollable as their views clashed with that of the new regime on how to move the country forward. The didn't want Ukraine to join E.U nor did they want to join Russia. they wanted to remain Neutral. Their violence continued and the government decided their part was already played, the goal of ousting the former regime which they played a major part in was already achieved and they were no longer needed, this led to the killing of Oleksandr Muzychko.
A repeat of what happened in Kiev some months back is happening again, this time in the regions of Donetsk, Kharkiv and Lugansk with the people dissatisfied with the government and asking to hold a Crimea-like referendum to leave Ukraine. They seized government buildings just the way right sector did in February at the Maidan, but unlike with the right sectors' actions which saw a new government emerge and were at one point called heroes, these people who believe they are fighting for their rights have been branded Terrorists by the government. Armored tanks and military men have been sent into the Donetsk region by Kiev and they are trying to stop the Protests by violence, an action which has been widely criticized by Russian president Putin.
On 17th April, 2014 an agreement was reached in Geneva between Russia, US, EU, Ukraine to de-escalate to tension and crisis in the country, but Ukraine’s acting Foreign Minister Andrey Deshchytsa said Kiev is not bound by the geneva agreement recommendations. According to Deshchytsa cited by RIA Novosti, “the troops in the East of the country are carrying out a special operation and can remain where they are.”
What happens next in Ukraine depends on which ever move the government takes. Will Russian language be returned to the constitution as the Nations second Language?,will the troops in Eastern ukraine be pulled out? will there be a review of the constitution?, will Ukraine adopt a Federal system of Government to help states have more autonomy from Kiev? These are surely some of the things that will help de-escalate the crises in the country but whether or not they will be done is yet to be seen. We may have to wait until after the May presidential elections to find out.
By Onyekachukwu Okonkwo.
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