Fresh unrest breaks out in Kyrgyzstan

Bishkek/Moscow - Fresh unrest has broken out in Kyrgyzstan, just days after authoritarian president Kurmanbek Bakiyev stepped down, Kyrgyz media reported Monday.

On Thursday, Bakiyev flew to neighboring Kazakhstan and resigned there in an internationally brokered agreement designed to restore calm. Since then the situation had reportedly stabilized in his home country.

But on Monday street battles broke out in the suburbs of the capital Bishkek as armed gangs tried to gain control of particular areas. Several people were injured, local media reported.

Some police units had threatened not to act against plunderers until the interior ministry was placed under "professional leadership."

Bakiyev's supporters in southern Kyrgyzstan also demanded his reinstatement as president. Reports from his home town of Zhalal- Abad claimed the town's administration had been taken over and that the former president had appointed one of his supporters as governor by telephone.

The developments have put the country's interim government, led by social democrat Roza Otunbayeva, under renewed pressure. The government had previously said the situation was under control.

Bakiyev's current whereabouts are uncertain. The Kazakh foreign ministry said the former president had left Kazakhstan, but could not say where he had gone.

Belarus' authoritarian president, Aleksander Lukashenko, had offered Bakiyev exile.

Bakiyev's supporters have also claimed that he would soon return to Kyrgyzstan to reclaim the presidency.

However, Bakiyev faces arrest should he attempt to return. He and his family have been blamed for the more than 80 deaths and 1,600 injured during the uprising against him in April.

The international community has also recognized the new government.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/319472,fresh-unrest-breaks-out-in-kyrgyzstan.html.