Kyrgyzstan’s deposed President flies to Kazakhstan

Kyrgyzstan's deposed President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, centre, surrounded by his bodyguards, arrives for a rally in the city of Osh, southern Kyrgyzstan on Thursday. A member of Kyrgyzstan's interim government said Bakiyev left the country for Kazakhstan on Thursday after signing a resignation statement.

Deposed President of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiyev left the country for neighbouring Kazakhstan on Thursday, ending the standoff with the new interim government.

After being ousted in a popular revolt on April 8, Mr. Bakiyev had refused to step down and taken refuge in his stronghold in the south of Kyrgyzstan. Mr. Bakiyev's departure from Kyrgyzstan was negotiated with international mediation involving Russia, the U.S., Kazakhstan, U.N. and the OSCE, said Kazakhstan's Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev, whose country holds rotating presidency in the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), in a statement posted on the OSCE website. Mr. Bakiyev's departure was described as an “important step toward stabilisation of the situation”.

Mr. Bakiyev earlier on Thursday tried to rally his allies in the southern city of Osh but was confronted by supporters of the coalition caretaker government made of opposition leaders.

Mr. Bakiyev's departure removes the threat of civil war in Kyrgyzstan about which Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned on Wednesday.