Kyrgyzstan's tension high after coup

BISHKEK - Kyrgyzstan's ousted interior minister, warning of a risk of civil war, says he is leading thousands of demonstrators towards the capital to protest against the coup that overthrew President Askar Akayev.

But the new leadership, which seized power on Thursday after mass protests, said Saturday's action had fizzled out and declared it was in control of the mountainous ex-Soviet state.

The capital was jumpy after widespread looting following the lightning coup. Tensions increased when acting President Kurmanbek Bakiev switched the venue of a news conference because officials got word of a possible plot to kill him.

Ignoring the exiled Akayev's refusal to resign, parliament set June 26 for a new presidential election in the central Asian nation. Bakiev said he would run in the election.

The Kremlin said in a statement carried by Itar-Tass news agency that Akayev had been offered the chance to come to Russia and signalled that he had already arrived.

The new leader said he had been as surprised as anybody by the speed of events.

"It didn't enter my head that this could happen. God forbid that anyone should come to power in this way. I am not a supporter of such things, but what happened," Bakiev said.

He said the protest march towards Bishkek from Akayev's home region of Chym Korgon in Kemen province to the east was a provocative action.

His security chief, Felix Kulov, later said it had been called off for lack of support. "They are not coming any more. They went a few kilometres from their Kemen region, but the other villages did not join them. They are not moving any more," he told a news conference.

PROTESTERS SET OFF

About 3,000 people had set off from Chym Korgon, some 90 km (55 miles) outside the capital, led by Keneshbel Dushebayev, who was appointed interior minister by Akayev just before he was ousted.

"The country is virtually split and everything is in place for a civil war," Dushebayev said.

But there was confusion over the protesters' aims.

Some had posters saying "No to the coup!" and "The people of Kyrgyzstan are one nation!". Other placards announced support for Kulov.

One man, Rustam Ibraimov, 24, said: "We do not support President Akayev, but the change of power should have been carried out according to the law."

Kulov, put in charge of security just days after crowds freed him from jail, insisted earlier on Saturday order had been restored.

"The situation is fully under control. We do not need a curfew," he said.

Bishkek was quiet on Saturday with little sign of the violence, looting and destruction that swept the city after Thursday's protests brought a sudden end to Akayev's 14-year rule of the mainly Muslim country.

WANING ENTHUSIASM

But there was also little left of the early enthusiasm which had first greeted the collapse of the old government.

"I fear it will be worse because there is instability," said Alexander Shirbina, a 57-year-old photographer. "Under Akayev things were not great. But they should have waited until an election to get rid of him. A coup is no good."

Crucially for the opposition, Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to have given his blessing to the new leadership.

"He was very interested in what sort of help is needed. We are very grateful to the Russian leadership," Bakiev told parliament after speaking to Putin by phone on Friday.

Putin had earlier offered sanctuary to Akayev who is now widely reported to be in Moscow.

Bakiev said Kyrgyzstan, a country of 5 million where most people survive on a dollar a day, desperately needed foreign assistance.

"We need help from the outside. Soon, we will have nothing to feed the people with," he said, adding he hoped Russia would help with fuel supplies.

The overthrow of Akayev, a relative liberal in a region of mainly autocratic leaders, followed weeks of protest throughout the country, especially in the poorer south.

The new leadership is made up of a loosely united opposition that includes many former government officials who have been at odds with one another in the past.

One of the immediate challenges is how to operate in a country with two sets of members of parliament -- from an outgoing assembly, which says it is still in charge, and a second, more strongly pro-Akayev group elected in polls in February and March which the opposition said were fraudulent.

Kyrgyzstan, bordering China, lies in an energy-rich region where Washington and Moscow vie for influence. Each has a military base outside Bishkek.

- REUTERS