Opposition leader Bakiyev claims control

Opposition leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev emerged from the Parliament building today and said he had been named Kyrgystan’s acting leader a day after protesters drove President Askar Akayev’s government from power, unleashing widespread looting.

Another opposition figure said that Akayev had fled to a foreign country after being turned away by Russia, and the Russian news agency Interfax reported that Akayev and his family were in neighbouring Kazakhstan.

“He had a chance to resign, but he fled,” said Felix Kulov, who was released from prison as Akayev’s government was toppled yesterday. “He wanted to go Russia, but the Russians didn’t accept him, and he is now in some other country.”

The new leadership emerging from fragmented former opposition forces faced an immediate challenge in halting vandalism and looting that left major stores in Bishkek gutted and many others damaged by rowdy youths who roamed the city overnight, with few police to be seen.

Opposition politicians met early today to consider the country’s new leadership but were interrupted by youths throwing stones at the building.

Bakiyev then emerged and told the crowd that he had been appointed “acting prime minister and acting president” and that he would seek to form a Cabinet.

The crowd shouted his name in support.

The square was the scene of swift political change yesterday, when opposition protesters seized control of the presidential and government headquarters. The takeover followed weeks of protests over disputed parliamentary elections the opposition said were aimed to keep Akayev in power.

Kyrgyzstan became the third former Soviet republican the past 18 months, after Georgia and Ukraine, in which popular protests have brought down long-entrenched governments widely accused of corruption.