Deposed Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev left the country on Thursday for neighboring Kazakhstan, allaying fears of new violence.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, chaired by Kazakhstan, welcomed Bakiyev’s departure and said it was the result of joint efforts by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama.
“This development is an important step towards the stabilization of the situation, a return to a framework providing for the rule of law, and the prevention of a civil war in Kyrgyzstan,” the OSCE chairmanship said.
Kyrgyzstan’s interim rulers said Bakiyev signed a formal letter of resignation before boarding the plane. Witnesses said Bakiyev flew out from the southern city of Jalal-Abad in a military transport aircraft.
Bakiyev’s departure follows the provisional government’s warning that he either should leave the country quickly or face a trial.
“He had to leave the country because he was afraid of people’s justice,” said Omurbek Tekebayev, deputy head of the interim government.
Bakiyev left the capital, Bishkek, on April 7 after a protest boiled over into gunfire; protesters then stormed government buildings. At least 83 people died in the violence.
Bakiyev’s efforts to gather support in Kyrgyzstan’s south, his clan’s power base, suffered a severe blow earlier Thursday when he tried to speak to a rally in Osh, the region’s biggest city. Within moments of his taking the stage, gunfire split the air and he was hustled into a car and driven away.
Witnesses said the shots came from his bodyguards, who may have been frightened by a group of Bakiyev opponents who were approaching the rally. Although there were no reports of injuries, the incident marked a humiliating setback in Bakiyev’s effort to claim that he is still the legitimate president.
Bakiyev had said earlier that he would be willing to resign if security guarantees were given to him and close relatives. The interim authorities have offered him such guarantees but refused them for his family. Bakiyev’s opponents have blamed him and his family for last week’s violence and also for widespread corruption.
Another member of the interim government in Bishkek, Tobchubek Turgunaliyev, said Bakiyev was only accompanied by his wife and two small children on a flight to Kazakhstan. Turgunaliyev told the AP that Bakiyev’s former defense minister has been arrested.
A security operation is underway in the south to arrest Bakiyev’s brothers, one of whom, the presidential guards chief, has been accused by the opposition of issuing an order to fire at protesters in Bishkek.
Medvedev discussed the situation with his Kazakh counterpart, Nazarbayev, the Kremlin said on Thursday evening.
“Nazarbayev informed Medvedev about the efforts taken to regulate the situation in the republic and their contacts with representatives from the interim government,” Kremlin press secretary Natalya Timakova said, Interfax reported.
(AP, Reuters, MT)