The country's interim government seeks to create a democratic and egalitarian state, the minister, Roza Otunbayeva, told an audience in Washington Tuesday, and pointed to reducing corruption and stimulating the economy as the country's top priorities.

But critics say the co-option of ruling elites into the new interim government combined with a society lacking democratic institutions and unused to democratic participation will make the transition to a genuine democracy shaky at best.

Fifteen years of authoritarian rule under President Askar Akayev ended last March 24, when protesters stormed and looted the Kyrgyz White House following alleged government interference in the parliamentary elections.

Since then, continuing protests around the country over the outcome of the elections have put the international community on edge.

The first test of the new system will be whether the country can hold "just and transparent" elections next month, Otunbayeva said at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"We want the world to see the positive results of the revolution and will do everything possible to ensure just and transparent elections," she said.

But the two top candidates for the presidency, Felix Kulov, the leading opposition candidate, and Kurmanbek Bakiev, the acting president of the interim government, have made a deal. In exchange for Kulov's support, Bakiev, should he win, has promised to appoint him prime minister.

"Although there will be multiple candidates, I don't think there will be serious opposition to Bhakiev," Charles Fairbanks, director of the Central Asia-Caucus Institute, told United Press International.

Fairbanks called the overall prospects for stability in Kyrgyzstan "dubious," and said the Akayev regime had left behind a country largely infertile to democracy.

The lack of an independent judiciary, strong independent parliament, or an active civil society, particularly in the south of the country where poverty and Islamic extremism have a firm hold of the populace, pose significant hurdles he said.

In such authoritarian regimes, he added, friends of the government are helped to become rich so that when the government changes, they resist losing their perks, like tax exemptions and property gifts.

"There are very powerful, entrenched interests which could very easily resist democracy in Kyrgyzstan," he said.

Otunbayeva, who played an active role in the revolution, said Kyrgyzstan had a "vital" civil society, citing the existence of some 5,000 non-governmental organizations, but also pointed to corruption as the main challenge facing democracy-building in the country.

"Corruption is a very serious problem, No. 1 probably," she said. "We should get money back, a lot of money we hope, from the assets of Akayev."

Akayev is suspected to have hidden millions, perhaps hundreds of millions, of dollars in offshore accounts. The temporary Kyrgyz government has enlisted a team of international lawyers to track the missing monies and set up an anti-corruption committee in consultation with the U.N. and international crime-fighting organizations.

Deputy Prime Minister Daniyar Usenov, who heads the legal team, is pursuing an aggressive campaign of arrests to root out corruption, using a model from the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

In the past few years, both Ukraine and Georgia staged similar revolutions and the Kyrgyz minister mentioned a potential democratic alliance between them.

On what is just the second trip to the West by a Kyrgyz official since the revolution, Otunbayeva emphasized the need for a new economic policy.

"I have fear that if we will not have visible improvement in a few years then such a revolution as we just had could take place every five years," she said.

She called the Kyrgyz people "patient" but said they would not hesitate to begin another revolution unless "people on the top will be really just and there will be no gap between rich and poor."

Development of industries such as hydro-energy, tourism, and agriculture would help revitalize the country's economy, she said, and emphasized that international trade should be increased and transportation routes to China and Pakistan improved.

Kyrgyz foreign policy would not change during this transition period she said, and the country would continue to maintain strong alliances with the United States and Russia, who both have military bases in the country.

"The United States is a very important ally for Kyrgyzstan," Otunbayeva said.

"Whatever 'West' means, it is United States in my country. Western values for us will always mean the U.S., economically, politically, and spiritually."

Fairbanks said it is unclear whether the United States will provide significant funding for Kyrgyzstan, which is a poor, landlocked country, with sparse natural resources other than gold.

"During the war on terror, the U.S. has multiple responsibilities and it's hard to fulfill all of them within the reluctance of congress to appropriate aid money," he said. "But there is the additional factor of (President) Bush's democracy building policy which I think is quite serious."

Fairbanks said support for democratic transformation in Kyrgyzstan is "of real importance" considering the reversion of such recent color revolutions to "thinly veiled authoritarian regimes" would have "a very chilling effect on the spread of democracy in the former soviet republics."

Otunbayeva also said the country would need increased assistance from the West to help expand its police and militia forces through a program being run by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Already China has provided police with equipment and Uzbekistan has invested considerably in banks and property, she said. Kygrzstan, a country of 4.5 million people, has 17,000 police officers, Otunbayeva said.

She also emphasized the need to nurture a generation of young leaders and politicians, and expressed hope the West would begin to offer as many scholarships as China.

Otunbayeva said the mass media could be an important tool for democracy-building and mentioned plans to devote the country's main television channel to "the public."

She said the interim government was reviewing the constitution and sought to create a founding document that will evenly balance power between the various branches of government.

All rights reserved. � 2005 United Press International. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by United Press International.. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of United Press International.

Related Links
SpaceWar
Search SpaceWar
Subscribe To SpaceWar Express

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only