BISHKEK, May 10 (RIA Novosti) - Kyrgyzstan's state secretary bowed to pressure from the opposition Wednesday and resigned in the latest event in the political crisis enveloping the former Soviet republic.
A 15,000-strong opposition rally in Bishkek on April 29 demanded the dismissal of several senior state officials, as well as constitutional reform and efforts to fight widespread corruption, and Dastan Sarygulov said his decision reflected the nation's mood.
As he was one of the officials included in the opposition's demands, Sarygulov said he was stepping down in the "interests of stability, civil accord and peace."
The presidential press service said President Kurmanbek Bakiyev had accepted Sarygulov's resignation and a government source said Adakhan Madurmarov, a deputy prime minister, had been appointed as acting state secretary and businessman Daniyar Usenov been made acting first deputy prime minister.
A source also said the Tashtemir Aytbayev, the chairman of the National Security Council, had handed in his resignation,
"The NSC head has tendered his resignation, and the NSC could have a new head as early as today," the source said.
A political crisis has engulfed Kyrgyzstan, one of the poorest former countries in Central Asia, with public discontent growing over the slow pace of change since the "tulip revolution" in spring 2005 brought Bakiyev to power.
Thirteen Cabinet members including the deputy prime minister, foreign and interior ministers had handed in their resignations at the start of May after the parliament criticized their work in the year following the "tulip revolution" that brought the current administration to power, but Bakiyev refused to accept the resignations.
