The president of Kyrgyzstan insisted today that he is not admitting defeat and he will not resign despite a bloody uprising and the formation of an interim government by the opposition, AP reported. Resistance from President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who has fled the northern capital of Bishkek for the south, could raise the prospect of continued instability in the impoverished Central Asian nation, home to both a U.S. air base key to the Afghan war and a Russian military facility. This mountainous former Soviet republic erupted Wednesday after angry protesters stormed government buildings in Bishkek and riot police fired straight into crowds, leaving dozens dead and hundreds wounded. «I don't admit defeat in any way,» Bakiyev said on the Ekho Moskvy radio station, but also recognized that «even though I am president, I don't have any real levers of power.» Earlier Thursday, opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva said parliament was dissolved and she would head an interim government that would rule for six months until elections were held. She said the opposition controlled four of the country's seven provinces and urged Bakiyev to resign. «His business in Kyrgyzstan is finished,» she said.
