Kyrgyzstan: Bakiyev Heads for Kazakhstan

Kurmanbek Bakiyev, whose administration collapsed April 7 amid rioting in Bishkek, has fled Kyrgyzstan and is headed for Taraz, a city in neighboring Kazakhstan, a source at the Kazakh Foreign Ministry tells EurasiaNet.org

A statement released late on April 15 by the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Kazakh Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev, says the leaders of Kazakhstan, Russia and the United States negotiated Bakiyev's departure. The Kyrgyz interim government led by Roza Otunbayeva agreed to the plan.

Since his administration's downfall, Bakiyev had been in southern Kyrgyzstan, his native region. From there, he leveled criticism against the provisional government in Bishkek, and warned of bloodshed if the country's new leaders attempted to arrest him. His continued presence in Kyrgyzstan was fueling instability in the South, experts say. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

"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," said the OSCE statement. Taraz, the Kazakhstani city that is Bakiyev's apparent destination, was formerly known as Zhambyl and is located just north of the Kyrgyz-Kazakhstani border, roughly 150 miles west of Bishkek.

It was not immediately clear whether Bakiyev, in leaving the country, formally resigned the presidency of Kyrgyzstan.