The FINANCIAL — Deposed Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said he had no plans to return from exile and denied any links to riots which continue to break out sporadically in the southern regions of the Central Asian country, according to RIA Novosti.
"I will not return under such circumstances so as not to flare tensions any further. [Returning] is impossible in practice," Bakiyev leader told RIA Novosti in Minsk, where he took refuge after fleeing Kyrgyzstan last month.
More than 80 people died in clashes between opposition protesters and security forces in Bishkek on April 7 and 8, while 1,500 were injured. The interim government says the shooting of civilians took place with the knowledge and consent of Bakiyev.
Since then, Kyrgyzstan has seen two waves of riots between supporters of the deposed leader and backers of the interim government, in which a total of seven people were killed and more than 90 were injured.
Kyrgyzstan's interim government led by Roza Otunbayeva maintains that the recent riots in the south of the country, considered a traditional stronghold of Bakiyev and his supporters, are orchestrated from abroad.
Last week, up to 3,000 people participated in protests in the southern Kyrgyz town of Jalalabad. Shots were heard but no casualties have been reported.
"I have neither direct nor indirect involvement with what is going on in Kyrgyzstan," Bakiyev said.
"I left the country only to prevent a civil war. That's why today I avoid phone conversations even with my brothers and sons [in Kyrgyzstan]," he said.
Presidential elections in Kyrgyzstan are to be held in October, 2011 and the new Kyrgyz leader will come into power the following January. Ottunbayeva was named provisional president of the country last week.
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