"President Askar Akayev fired two of his top officials in a vain effort to quell the turmoil."
Probably they told him he needs to step down, and so he fired them. He's a megalomaniac. Or maybe I have the wrong guy...
DNDMSB -- I can type your entire handle without even batting an eye now, and I still have no idea what it means. ;')
Central Asia is a dictatorized area.