Kurmanbek Bakiyev flees Kyrgyzstan

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev fled Kyrgyzstan and a government source said he had quit, a week after an uprising against his five-year rule sparked fears of civil war, Reuters reported.

Bakiyev's flight to neighboring Kazakhstan ended days of turmoil that disrupted U.S. troop flights through its Kyrgyz airbase in support of operations in Afghanistan.

"The president of Kyrgyzstan has flown to Kazakhstan, where he will conduct negotiations on the settlement of the crisis," Bakiyev aide Ravshan Dzhamgyrchiyev said.

A source in the interim government, which took control after an April 7 revolt that left dozens dead, said Bakiyev had signed a letter of resignation.

It marked an ignominious end to his rule, five years after he led street protests dubbed the "Tulip Revolution" that ousted the country's first post-Soviet ruler Askar Akayev on the back of a call for greater democracy.

Earlier on Thursday, the 60-year-old president was bundled into his jeep and whisked away when bodyguards fired into the air to disperse a crowd of 1,000 opponents who tried to disrupt a rally addressed by Bakiyev in his southern stronghold.

Critics accused Bakiyev, a former soldier in the Soviet army, of allowing the same excesses of nepotism and corruption as Akayev.

Popular anger over a government decision to raise utility fees and a intensified crackdown on dissent and press freedom culminated in protests on April 7. Troops opened fire and at least 84 people died.