Deposed Kyrgyz president leaves, allowing U.S. outreach to new leaders

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Source: WaPo

MOSCOW -- The ousted president of Kyrgyzstan left the country Thursday in a deal with the political coalition that seized power after violent protests last week, ending a long standoff and clearing the way for Washington to recognize and provide aid to the strategically located nation's new government.

Kurmanbek Bakiyev had been holed up in a mountain village since fleeing the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek, on April 7 after his security forces opened fire on demonstrators. He flew to a city in neighboring Kazakhstan, where the government said it had helped engineer his departure.

The Kazakh government also credited the United States and Russia for what it called "an important step towards . . . the prevention of a civil war in Kyrgyzstan." In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the arrangements for Bakiyev to leave were worked out earlier this week during a meeting among President Obama, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Bakiyev submitted his resignation and left with only his wife and two small children, members of the new Kyrgyz government said, suggesting that the deposed autocrat had dropped demands that two of his brothers suspected of involvement in the killings of his critics and in last week's deadly shootings be allowed to go into exile as well.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/15/AR2010041505067.html