After Bloody Uprising, Opposition Forms Interim Govt in Kyrgyz

Following a blooding uprising that left over 65 dead and 400 others injured and forced President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to flee capital, the opposition in Kyrgyzstan has said that it has dissolved parliament and taken power, reported BBC.

Opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva, an ex-foreign minister, said that the interim government had fully taken control, said report.

Addressing a packed news conference, Otunbayeva said that an interim government – which would be in power for six months – taken full control and appointed new ministers.

She, however, said that Bakiyev didn’t put in his papers yet and had returned to his home region Jalalabad to gather support in the country’s south, report said.

“We want to negotiate his resignation,” she was quoted as saying. “His business here is over.”

Otunbayeva said that people in Kyrgyzstan wanted to build democracy, report said.

“What we did yesterday was our answer to the repression and tyranny against the people by the Bakiyev regime,” she was quoted as saying.

“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.”

Earlier on Wednesday, clashed occurred in the capital Bishkek and other towns, killing over 65 people and wounding 400 injured.

Clashes initially broke out in the provincial town of Talas and then spread to Bishkek and another town Naryn. Demonstrators marched on government buildings in the capital.

There is no official word from Bakiyev as he reportedly left capital and went to Jalalabad, report said.

Bakiyev himself came to power in a revolution in the central Asian state five years ago.

A news agency reported that the president intended to tender resignation but the report was not confirmed.

BBC quoted its correspondent as saying that Bakiyev has a large support base in the south where Osh, the country’s second city, is located.

It has yet to be seen how many people there will turn out for the president and whether Bakiyev will try to fight back with their support.

Kyrgyzstan is a strategically important central Asian state and houses a Russian base and a key US military base that supplies forces in Afghanistan. The US has suspended military flights.

Otunbayeva said that these military bases could continue as before.

Reuters news agency reported that Ishmail Isakov had been named interim defence minister and had affirmed the country’s armed forces and border guards were under the control of the interim government.

“Military force will be never again be used to solve domestic matters,” he was quoted as saying.