Kyrgyzstan clashes

Kyrgyzstan begins mourning as the first funerals are held for the victims of the bloody revolt that toppled President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. However, as the new interim government struggles to stop looters and regain order in the impoverished Central Asian country, President Bakiyev has insisted he will not resign.

"I don't admit defeat in any way," Bakiyev told Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy, but added that he didn’t have "any real levers of power."

The Kyrgyz opposition had announced earlier that it had taken control of nearly all of the country and that a former foreign minister, Roza Otunbayeva, would head a caretaker government for six months.

Otunbayeva, who led the opposition to President Bakiyev's government, told reporters on Thursday that the current constitution would remain in place until a new one was passed by referendum.

Change at the top

"We want to negotiate Bakiyev's resignation," Otunbayeva said.

Opposition protestors seized Kyrgyz government headquarters late Wednesday following clashes between protesters and security forces that reportedly killed at least 65 people and injured an estimated 400.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said he was dismayed at the violence that had taken place.

"I am shocked at the high number of dead and injured claimed by the unrest of previous days in Kyrgyzstan," he said in a statement. "I call upon those responsible to do everything to prevent further violence, plundering and bloodshed."

The self-proclaimed government's defence minister, Ishmail Isakov, said the country's armed forces and border guards were under its control. "Military force will be never again be used to solve domestic matters," he said.

Fear of looting

The biggest concern now for the new government is to control criminal activity.

"People are afraid of looting," Bektour Iskender, editor-in-chief of the news portal kloop.kg, told Deutsche Welle. "Brigades of people who want to defend the city are being formed. These people are marching all over the streets trying to catch those trying to burgle stores."

The self-proclaimed head of Kyrgyzstan's interior ministry has issued orders allowing security forces to fire on looters in the capital.

China deeply concerned

China, which shares a border with Kyrgyzstan, on Thursday voiced concern about the situation. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that China hopes order in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek and other areas can be restored as soon as possible.

The United States, which maintains an airbase in Kyrgyzstan vital to the NATO campaign in Afghanistan, has condemned the violence. The US has a military air base supporting troops in Afghanistan in the Kyrgyz city of Manas and is a major donor to Kyrgyzstan, along with China and Russia, which also has military base in the former Soviet state.

Otunbayeva said the new government would preserve an agreement allowing the U.S. base to operate.

"Its status quo will remain in place. We still have some questions on it. Give us time and we will listen to all the sides and solve everything," she said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is sending a special envoy on an urgent trip to Kyrgyzstan. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has also called on Bishkek to "seek a dialogue" and has offered its help in solving Kyrgyzstan's problems.

db/rc//AP/Reuters/dpa/AFP
Editor: Rob Turner