Belarus ready to receive Bakiyev
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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Sunday that ousted Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev was welcome to his country, Russian news agencies reported.
"If he wants to come -- today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow - we are ready to receive him here in Belarus," he said.
Earlier, the Interfax news agency said Bakiyev, who fled Krgyzstan and landed in neighboring Kazakhstan by plane, had already left the southern Kazakh city of Taraza for Belarusian capital of Minsk.
However, Lukashenko said Bakiyev remained in southern Kazakhstan with his five-year-old son, daughter and wife.
"If the president of Kyrgyzstan and his family need support and assistance at this difficult time, they will get it in Belarus," he said.
The Belarusian leader also denied that Bakiyev had resigned, saying the letter of resignation bearing Bakiyev's signature, which was shown in media now, was not trustworthy.
One of Bakiyev's brother Ahmad also said previously that the faxed letter was a fake, but later Friday the Kyrgyz interim government officials claimed they had received the handwritten, original version of the letter.
Bakiyev fled to southern Kyrgyzstan last week after thousands of protesters supportive of the opposition clashed with security forces throughout the country, driving out local governments and seizing government headquarters in Bishkek.
The opposition has formed an interim government led by former Foreign Minister Roza Otunbayeva.
Bakiyev and some of his relatives were charged for inducing the unrest.
Late Thursday Bakiyev departed his country under the mediation of the United States, Russia and Kazakhstan. According to Russian news agencies, Kazakhstan officials now claimed they had no idea of the whereabouts of the deposed president.
Also on Sunday, a deputy prime minister of the Kyrgyz interim government, Omurbek Tekebayev, said they would form a Central Election Commission to legitimize the current government.
Hailing it as "an unprecedented decision," Tekebayev said seats in the commission could be evenly distributed to non-government organizations, political parties and United Nations specialists.
"The international community can, for the first time in our history, apart from monitoring the election process, participate directly in its organization and administration," said Tekebayev.
In addition, the deputy prime minister said the interim government would publish draft of a new Kyrgyz Constitution on Monday. He also proposed to elect an acting president "before a new head of state enters his office," along with the referendum on the constitutional reform slated for July.
Otunbayeva, for Tekebayev, was "a non-alternative candidate" for this post.
The impoverished Central Asian country will hold parliamentary and presidential elections in October.
