The head of Kyrgyzstan's interim government said Sunday that the Central Asian country's deposed president must face trial, rescinding an earlier offer of security guarantees for him. President Kurmanbek Bakiyev warned from his home village in the south against any attempt to arrest him, saying it will trigger bloodshed. Roza Otunbayeva's statement reflected the toughening of the new authorities' stance as they grow increasingly impatient with the ousted Bakiyev's refusal to step down. Otunbayeva and others had earlier offered Bakiyev a safe passage out of the country if he resigned voluntarily. The stalemate has left Kyrgyzstan's near-term stability in doubt, a worry for the West because of the US air base in Kyrgyzstan that is a crucial element in the international military campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan. “People are criticizing me for being too soft and saying there should be no security guarantees for him,” Otunbayeva said in televized remarks. “People are demanding that Bakiyev face trial.” Bakiyev fled the capital, Bishkek, Wednesday after a protest rally against corruption, rising utility bills and deteriorating human rights exploded into police gunfire and chaos that left at least 81 people dead and sparked protesters to storm government buildings. Speaking to the Russian RIA Novosti news agency from his home Jalal-Abad region in southern Kyrgyzstan, Bakiyev urged the United Nations to send peacekeepers to Kyrgyzstan to prevent unrest from spreading. “The police have been paralyzed, the military is so-so, and if, God forbid, there is some hotbed we won't manage to deal with it on our own,” he said. “It's necessary to deploy the UN peacekeepers in Kyrgyzstan today.” Bakiyev said he wants an international commission to investigate the circumstances of violence in Bishkek and would be ready to face responsibility if it determines he was to blame. He dismissed an investigation launched by the interim authorities as biased. “I don't trust the probe, it's going to blame me for everything,” he said, according to RIA Novosti news agency. Bakiyev added that he feels a “deep pain” for the victims in Bishkek. “Of course, I feel responsibility for what has happened,” he was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying. “I can't say that I'm not to blame.”
