Jalalabad (Kyrgyzstan): Kyrgyzstan's new rulers ordered President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to surrender by the end of Tuesday, threatening to seize him in a special operation if he continued to defy the interim government.
Bakiyev fled to the southern Jalalabad region from the capital Bishkek after troops fired on protesters in an uprising on April 7 that brought his opponents to power.
Bakiyev warned the self-proclaimed interim government that making any move against him could stoke further turmoil in the volatile Central Asian nation where the United States rents an air base used for the war effort in Afghanistan.
"There will be unpredictable consequences," he told Reuters as some 7,000 supporters rallied in Jalalabad, many waving banners and shouting: "Down with the bloody interim government."
"They have no right to do this. Their decisions are not legitimate," added Bakiyev who has been mustering supporters in the south.
Bakiyev has brushed aside demands from the interim government to resign or leave the country, though he said he was ready for talks with the opposition to prevent further unrest.
In Bishkek, the interim government said Bakiyev, who swept to power five years ago in a coup that toppled Kyrgyzstan's first post-Soviet ruler Askar Akayev, must surrender.
"We have abolished his presidential immunity," said Security Minister Azimbek Beknazarov. "We have opened a criminal case against the former president. If he does not show up today after the rally we will hold an operation to detain him."
But in his southern stronghold, Bakiyev was greeted by thousands of followers who shouted "Bakiyev! Bakiyev!."
The central square was still adorned with a huge billboard showing Bakiyev shaking hands with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and police saluted to Bakiyev's motorcade as he drove through the city.
There were no signs of heavy security, with Bakiyev guarded only by a dozen of security personnel dressed in dark sportswear and armed with AK-47 rifles.
Air base
The turmoil in Kyrgyzstan has shifted the balance of great power rivalries in the impoverished mountainous state of 5.3 million people, where Russia has bristled at the US military air base.
A US military official said the Manas base would not be used as a hub for sending troops into Afghanistan in the near term, citing the need to free it up for possible humanitarian aid or other logistical purposes.
The self-proclaimed government has said Russia is its key ally and some leading ministers have said the US lease on its air base could be shortened, raising speculation Moscow could try to use the base as a lever in relations with Washington.
The United States says the interim government has pledged to abide by its agreements on Manas, the last remaining US military base in Central Asia after Uzbekistan evicted the United States from a base in 2005.
US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake will visit Bishkek this week to meet the interim government, the highest level US visit since Bakiyev fled the capital.
Blake said there were no plans to meet Bakiyev, though he said that the United States was not yet formally recognising the interim government led by Roza Otunbayeva.
"It is very good news that Ms. Otunbayeva said that they will continue to abide by those agreements and of course the United States is prepared to talk at any time with her and members of the provisional government about these arrangements," Blake told a news briefing in Washington.
At the Jalalabad rally, where Bakiyev made an appearance on Tuesday to make a speech, many said they wanted Bakiyev back and supported his handling of the crisis.
"He stabilised the economy, he is for ordinary people," said 75-year-old Mukkambai Alymkulov. "The opposition has been sapping his power for five years. We were starting to live better and then these opposition bandits came to Bishkek."
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