BISHKEK - Kyrgyzstan's new interim president Kurmanbek Bakiyev pledged Tuesday to fight corruption and help victims of looting as the political dust settled in the Central Asian country following last week's sudden ouster of its Soviet-era leader.
"The battle against corruption is my main goal," Bakiyev said at a meeting with staff from the cabinet of ministers and the presidential administration.
"We must stop the practice of buying and selling posts, the practice of assigning posts because of relations and money," said Bakiyev, whom parliament approved as interim president on Monday following the March 24 toppling of the 15-year regime of Askar Akayev.
Cronyism in government was one of the main criticisms of Akayev, the most liberal ruler in ex-Soviet Central Asia who saw much of his support slip away as his family and associates assumed a disproportionate control over the economy and government.
The 60-year-old Akayev, who had ruled this poor mountainous nation of five million people on China's western border since 1990, was swept from power last Thursday after opposition protestors overran the main seat of government in the capital Bishkek.
Akayev, who has not been in public seen since a day before the chaotic protests, initially fled to Russia but his whereabouts on Tuesday were not known.
The Kyrgyz news agency Kabar has published two messages addressed to it via email from Akayev, in which he railed against the nation's new leaders whom he called "revolutionaries... (who) want to grab power."
Kyrgyzstan's parliament on Monday confirmed Bakiyev as acting president pending new presidential elections that have been set for June 26. Bakiyev has said he would stand in the ballot.
His legitimacy confirmed, Bakiyev purged several key posts of Akayev-era appointees, installing allies in the education ministry, state media and the presidential protection unit.
He also pledged to help victims of the massive looting that followed Akayev's ouster to recover from the damage.
"The government is ready to help the business victims of the looting," he said. "There are many ways to help them and we are going to discuss them all."
Meanwhile Akayev's supporters in the country said they would form a political party that would field a candidate in the presidential poll.
Former emergencies minister Timirbek Akmataliyev said he stand in the June ballot and that together with ex-interior minister Keshenbek Dyushenbayev, whom Akayev had installed just days before his ouster, he was forming the Akyikat (Fairness) political party.
The two men called for Akayev to return to Kyrgyzstan and to formally submit his resignation.
"Askar Akayev has to come back to the republic and answer for his actions in front of the people, after which he must immediately resign," Akmataliyev told reporters.
The protests that toppled Akayev were the culmination the weeks of simmering discontent over a parliamentary election on March 13, the results of which practically shut the opposition out of the 75-seat legislature.
Critics of Akayev said he had tried to stack the chamber with supporters ahead of a presidential poll that was due to take place in October.
03/29/2005 11:10 GMT