MINSK — Ousted Kyrgyz leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev said Wednesday that he was still president and urged the world to shun the interim rulers struggling to restore order after an April 7 uprising.
The new leadership dismissed his statement, saying Bakiyev had signed and sealed his own resignation.
Minutes later, the authorities announced the arrest of a number of Bakiyev loyalists who last week seized control in his southern stronghold of Jalal-Abad, including self-proclaimed Governor Faizulla Rakhmanov.
Bakiyev's defiance will likely aggravate the mix of lawlessness and resistance facing the interim government as it tries to stamp its authority on the Central Asian state, host to a U.S. air base supplying operations in Afghanistan.
"I will do everything to restore constitutional order to Kyrgyzstan," Bakiyev said in the Belarussian capital, Minsk, where he has sought refuge after the revolt against his five-year rule. "I don't recognize my resignation. … Only death can stop me.
"I call on international leaders not to recognize the authority of this illegitimate gang," Bakiyev said.
Kyrgyzstan's interim government said last week that Bakiyev had resigned and produced a handwritten letter that it said the president faxed fr om Kazakhstan, wh ere he initially found safe haven. It then produced the original, delivered by Kazakhstan's ambassador to Bishkek.
The Kyrgyz government says it will pursue swift reforms and hold parliamentary and presidential elections within six months. On Wednesday, it said it had asked the United States for $10 million to help conduct the polls.
The United States and Russia both have engaged with the interim government and offered assistance. But the government has struggled so far to stamp its authority on the impoverished former Soviet republic of 5.3 million people.
Five people died Monday in ethnic violence, when looters targeted ethnic Russians and Meskhetian Turks on the outskirts of Bishkek, exploiting the post-uprising turbulence to demand land.
President Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday that the country faced anarchy and ordered the Defense Ministry to take measures to protect Russians living there.
Russia has an air base in the country, manned by about 500 servicemen, and it sent 150 paratroopers earlier in the crisis to protect personnel.
"We hope that the situation will stabilize, but it needs patience," said Edil Baisalov, a senior interim government official.
The interim leaders accuse Bakiyev of corruption and nepotism and say he must answer for the deaths of at least 85 people in the uprising, when police and troops repeatedly opened fire on protesters, some of them armed.
"I am not evading responsibility for the catastrophe, and I am ready to answer to the law," Bakiyev said, without elaborating.