Global General

Kyrgyz opposition seizes power, dissolves parliament

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-04-08 16:44

Roza Otunbayeva (L), the interim government leader, speaks as she sits next to Vice Premier Omurbek Tekebayev during a news conference in Bishkek April 8, 2010.[Agencies]

BISHKEK -- Kyrgyzstan's opposition said on Thursday it had taken power and dissolved parliament in the poor but strategically important Central Asian state after deadly protests forced President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to flee the capital.

Roza Otunbayeva, leader of the interim government, demanded the resignation of the president, whom she helped bring to power five years ago. She said Bakiyev was trying to rally supporters in his power base in southern Kyrgyzstan.

"People in Kyrgyzstan want to build democracy. What we did yesterday was our answer to the repression and tyranny against the people by the Bakiyev regime," Otunbayeva, who once served as foreign minister under Bakiyev, told reporters.

"You can call this revolution. You can call this a people's revolt. Either way, it is our way of saying that we want justice and democracy."

The uprising, which spread to Bishkek on Wednesday a day after starting in a provincial town, was sparked by discontent over corruption, nepotism and rising prices in a nation where a third of the 5.3 million population live below the poverty line.

The United States has a military air base supporting troops in Afghanistan in the Kyrgyz city of Manas and is a major donor to Kyrgyzstan, along with China and Russia, which also has a military base in the former Soviet state.

Otunbayeva said the new government would preserve an agreement allowing the US base to operate.

"Its status quo will remain in place. We still have some questions on it. Give us time and we will listen to all the sides and solve everything," she said.

The White House said US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dimitry Medvedev were likely to discuss the situation when they meet in Prague to sign an arms control treaty later on Thursday.

President flees

Bakiyev fled Bishkek to southern Kyrgyzstan, his traditional power base in a nation split by clan rivalries. A witness said he arrived late on Wednesday at the airport in Osh, and Otunbayeva said later he was in his home region of Jalalabad.

"We want to negotiate his resignation," she said. "His business here is over ... The people who were killed here yesterday are the victims of his regime."

She said the entire country was under the control of the interim government, except for Osh and Jalalabad. Armed forces and border guards supported the new government, she said.

Spokesmen for the president were not available for comment.