Originally published by Reuters, 16 Apr 2010

By Maria Golovnina

 BISHKEK (Reuters) – Deposed President Kurmanbek Bakiyev formally resigned in a handwritten letter sent to Kyrgyzstan’s new leaders on Friday, allaying fears of civil war in the strategic Central Asian country.

Bakiyev fled to neighboring Kazakhstan on Thursday, ending days of turmoil that disrupted U.S. military flights through a Kyrgyz air base to operations in Afghanistan.

The crisis has underlined rivalries between the United States and Russia for influence in Central Asia, a vast region between China, Afghanistan and the Caspian Sea.

The interim government, led by Roza Otunbayeva, said Bakiyev had faxed his resignation letter overnight from Kazakhstan.

“I tender my resignation in these tragic days as I understand the full scale of my responsibility for the future of the Kyrgyz people,” Bakiyev said in the letter.

Otunbayeva’s chief of staff, Edil Baisalov, later presented the original, written in large, jagged letters, to reporters and said it was delivered to the interim government by Kazakhstan’s ambassador in Bishkek.

Bakiyev’s departure has sharply reduced tensions in the impoverished former Soviet republic after a violent uprising against his five-year rule raised the specter of civil war.

Otunbayeva said the interim government would work on creating a parliamentary democracy. “We agreed on a parliamentary republic system and now we have a working group which is drafting a constitution,” Otunbayeva told reporters in Washington and other cities via teleconference from Bishkek.

The former foreign minister said it was too early to say whether she would run president in polls expected in six months.

Bakiyev is believed to be in the Kazakh city of Taraz with his wife and two children. Russian media say he could fly on to Turkey or Latvia.

At least 84 people were killed in the uprising last week when a protest against Bakiyev’s rule erupted into a night of gunfire and looting in the Kyrgyz capital. Troops loyal to Bakiyev shot into a crowd of thousands of demonstrators.

Addressing the nation in a live televised statement, Otunbayeva said Bakiyev must stand trial over the events, saying: “Retribution is unavoidable. Justice will prevail.”

RUSSIA VS U.S.

Otunbayeva said the presidents of the United States, Russia and Kazakhstan — which holds the rotating chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation and Europe — personally had helped mediate in the crisis.

Bakiyev was defiant in his first appearance since fleeing.

“As far as who is guilty and why, history will be the judge and it will not take long,” he said in comments broadcast on Kazakh Khabar television.

“The guilty should be punished, because no president could support the seizure power with the loss of human life.” He gave no indication of his precise whereabouts.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev urged the new government to restore control over the country, saying: “The authority is weak on the ground and this is fertile ground for various bandits and criminal gangs.”

Russia, which also has an air base in Kyrgyzstan, sought to pressure Bakiyev to evict the United States from its Manas air base, through which 50,000 U.S. troops passed last month.

The new government says it plans to allow Washington to keep the base but has hinted it may review some elements of its work.

Speaking in Brasilia, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who had warned that Kyrgyzstan could become a “second Afghanistan,” said he believed the “negative scenario” had been avoided.

China, the other major power with an interest in Kyrgyzstan, has said little in the week since the uprising in the neighboring state, but broke its silence on Friday with a Foreign Ministry statement supporting the new government.

Interim government officials said forces were conducting an operation in southern Kyrgyzstan to round up any Bakiyev allies thought to be hiding in the region. Bakiyev’s defense minister has already been arrested, Otunbayeva said.

Bakiyev had demanded that two of his brothers, accused by the opposition of playing a role in the deaths of his opponents and last week’s violence, should be allowed to leave with him. It is unclear where they are.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63F4EB20100416