Official: Kyrgyz president leaves Kazakhstan

[April 20, 2010]  BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (AP) -- The deposed president of Kyrgyzstan on Monday left Kazakhstan, ending four days of refuge in the country after he was driven from power in a violent uprising, a Kazakh official said.

Caption:  Kyrgyz pray on Sunday at the Ata-Beyit memorial complex on the outskirts of Bishkek, the Kyrgyzstan capital, after laying flowers at the graves of protesters who were shot dead by police during the recent bloody uprising that culminated in the toppling of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. At least 76 people died in the violence and more than 1,400 were injured, the Health Ministry reported Friday. That figure included 67 people injured overnight in clashes between looters and security forces. (AP photo by Nina Gorshkova)

Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman Ilyas Omarov told The Associated Press he didn't know where Bakiyev was headed.

"He's left Kazakhstan -- there are no details on his planned destination," Omarov said by telephone from the Kazakh capital, Astana.

The authoritarian leader of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, said Sunday that Bakiyev would be welcome in his country, which could exacerbate Belarus' tensions with the West as well as its difficult relations with neighboring Russia.

Another possible destination is the United Arab Emirates, where Bakiyev is thought to own property.

Bakiyev left Kyrgyzstan for Kazakhstan on Thursday after he was driven from power in a bloody revolt.

Some observers have suggested Russia played a role in Bakiyev's downfall, angry that he backed off his promise last year to evict the United States from its air base in Kyrgyzstan; Russia also has a base in the former Soviet Central Asian nation.

Both the United States and Russia were involved in the deal under which Bakiyev was allowed to fly to Kazakhstan. But none of those countries have expressed approval of him, and the arrangement appeared aimed largely at pulling Kyrgyzstan back from violence and even civil war.

At least 83 people died when an April 7 protest rally in the Kyrgyz capital exploded into gunfire and protesters stormed government buildings. Bakiyev fled to his native village in the country's south, where he tried to marshal support to resist the opposition figures who declared themselves the country's interim leaders.

Bakiyev left for Kazakhstan hours after he fled a rally of supporters amid gunfire that witnesses said came from his guards, who apparently were spooked by an approaching group of protesters.

[Associated Press; By PETER LEONARD]

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