Posted on 03/27/2005 5:42:14 PM PST by jb6
By KADYR TOKTOGULOV Associated Press Writer The Associated Press
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan Mar 27, 2005 — Two rival parliaments vied for power in Kyrgyzstan on Sunday, and the head of Europe's leading security organization tried to resolve the turmoil in the Central Asia country three days after its longtime leader fled to Russia in the face of massive protests.
Kyrgyzstan has both Russian and U.S. bases on its soil and like neighboring Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan had been ruled by authoritarian chiefs until President Askar Akayev left Thursday after 15 years in power.
Akayev's departure made Kyrgyzstan the third former Soviet republic in the past 18 months after Georgia and Ukraine to see long-entrenched governments accused of corruption fall. But it was the first time a regime had been toppled in largely Muslim Central Asia, a region rich in oil and gas deposits.
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The country's two parliaments the new one elected in the disputed February and March votes and the one that lost the election met in separate chambers over the weekend, each claiming to represent the 5 million people in this U.S. ally in the war on terrorism.
On the streets, police and civilian volunteers appeared to have put an end to the looting that raged through Bishkek after demonstrators stormed the presidential headquarters Thursday.
During weekend confrontations, police arrested 129 people, and reports said between one and three people described as "pillagers" were killed.
After Akayev fled, the former parliament reclaimed its mandate and quickly named a new interim leader former opposition party leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
But Bakiyev's prosecutor-general, Azim Beknazarov, said the new parliament, dominated by Akayev's allies, would have to be officially recognized.
The secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Jan Kubis, arrived in Bishkek on Sunday to try to help resolve the crisis. Kyrgyzstan is a member of the OSCE.
OSCE envoy Alojz Peterle said the organization was sending three independent constitutional and legal experts.
Considering that the OSCE ignored blatent vote rigging by the Pro-EU COMMUNIST Party of Moldovia says a lot.
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