31.   The moves were clearly an effort by the authoritarian president to save face and regain the initiative in his nearly two-month struggle against anti-government protesters.

32.   The moves were clearly an effort by the authoritarian president to save face and regain the initiative in more than seven weeks of struggle against the pro-democracy movement.

33.   There were a number of libel suits last fall and winter against journalists who wrote about relatives of the authoritarian president.

34.   Uzbekistan has sought for years to improve its relations with Washington but previously had been turned away because of its human rights record under an authoritarian president.

35.   Western leaders had pinned hopes on Kyrgyzstan as an oasis of stability and plurality in a region ruled by authoritarian presidents, Islamic warlords and drug traffickers.

36.   Western leaders pinned hopes on Kyrgyzstan as a nucleus of stability and plurality in a region ruled by authoritarian presidents, Islamic warlords and drug traffickers.

37.   Unlike the authoritarian presidents of nearby Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, who extended their presidencies through referendums, Akayev was re-elected in December in a contested race.

38.   Western leaders have pinned hopes on Kyrgyzstan as an oasis of stability and plurality in a region ruled by authoritarian presidents, Islamic warlords and drug traffickers.

39.   Western leaders pinned hopes on Kyrgyzstan as an oasis of stability and plurality in a region ruled by authoritarian presidents, Islamic warlords and drug traffickers.

40.   Western leaders had pinned hopes on Kyrgyzstan as an oasis of stability and pluralism in a region ruled by authoritarian presidents, Islamic warlords and drug traffickers.