Kyrgyzstan's deposed president signs formal resignation

The deposed president of Kyrgyzstan has stepped down, a member of the interim government said last night.

Topchubek Turgunaliyev said Kurmanbek Bakiyev has signed a formal resignation statement.

Mr Bakiyev left the country for neighbouring Kazakhstan yesterday, raising hope that the unrest gripping the impoverished former Soviet Central Asian nation will end soon.

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Earlier, Kazakhstan's foreign ministry said the presidents of the United States, Russia and Kazakhstan helped to arrange for Mr Bakiyev to leave the country.

The ministry spokesman, Ilyas Omarov, said the US president, Barack Obama, Russian president Dmitry Medvedev and the Kazakhstani president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, reached an agreement that let Mr Bakiyev fly to Kazakhstan.

Mr Turgunaliyev said that Mr Bakiyev was accompanied by only his wife and two children, while his other relatives apparently have stayed behind.

He added that the former defence minister was arrested while trying to escape.

Mr Bakiyev was driven from the capital, Bishkek, on 7 April after a protest boiled over into gunfire. Protesters then stormed government buildings. At least 83 people died in the violence.

Meanwhile, the US airbase near the Kyrgyzstan capital, which is important in the Nato campaign against the Taleban in Afghanistan, has resumed full operations, the US embassy said yesterday.

"Refuelling operations continue as usual and the transit of troops has resumed," the embassy said.