Supporters on the march for ousted Kyrgyz president

Telegraph.co.uk ^ | 3/27/05 | Deirdre Tynan

[Valin]

Kyrgyzstan's new parliament set a date for presidential elections yesterday, despite the prospect of further instability as supporters of the ousted Askar Akayev began to mass in protest.

Opposition politicians, who seized power on Thursday after thousands of their supporters stormed President Akayev's offices, said polls to elect new leaders would be held on June 26.

Kurmanbek Bakiev However, the pledge from Kurmanbek Bakiev, the acting president and prime minister, did little to quell fears of a showdown with supporters of Mr Akayev, who is believed to have fled by helicopter after the takeover of the presidential compound in Bishkek.

Yesterday, amid reports that the former president and his family had been offered sanctuary in Russia by President Vladimir Putin, about 3,000 people began a march on the capital from Mr Akayev's home city of Chym Korgon, 55 miles to the south.

Their presence will pose a new threat to police and opposition politicians, who have been struggling to restore law and order in Bishkek after looting and violence that has so far seen six people killed and up to 400 injured.

In a sign of his own tenuous grip on security, rumours of an assassination plot yesterday forced Mr Bakiev to change the venue of a news conference at which he declared his own candidacy for the elections. "I think I should run in the presidential election. God willing, I will," he announced

Yesterday American officials told The Sunday Telegraph that they hoped Mr Bakiev would work with Mr Akayev, who has vowed to return. However, the interim government has carried on with a series of new ministerial appointments. A local militia has been recruited and members registered in an attempt to end the looting free-for-all that has destroyed the city centre.

Hopes that Kyrgyzstan's so-called Tulip revolution could mirror the peaceful changes in Ukraine and Georgia are overshadowed by fears of inter-clan rivalries and tensions between Kyrgyz nationals and people from neighbouring Uzbekistan.

Craig Murray, a former British ambassador in Uzbek-istan, said: "Akayev was pretty bad - he was undemocratic, he rigged the recent election - but he did allow opposition candidates to stand and put out literature and for many years he allowed a relatively free media."

"I think unfortunately the lesson other regimes will take is that if you start to reform then you will get toppled."