BISHKEK, March 28: Kyrghyzstan plunged deeper into confusion on Monday when a parliament, whose disputed election led to a coup ousting President Askar Akayev last week, assumed authority and the new leaders jostled for power. With the impoverished Central Asian state looking increasingly rudderless, differences emerged between acting president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, named within hours of the March 24 coup that forced Mr Akayev to flee, and Felix Kulov, a popular opposition leader in charge of security.

But they got a helping hand from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who promised to get emergency aid going to Moscow’s ex-Soviet ally which says it needs food and fuel. The constitutional crisis has stoked tension in the mainly Muslim state of five million where mass looting broke out after the coup, although there was calm over Sunday night.

“Today we have two presidents ... in some areas three or four governors and up to six regional leaders in the provinces,” declared the speaker of the new parliament.

“We need to stop the disintegration of authority which is threatening the integrity of state,” Omurbek Tekebayev told journalists, adding that Mr Akayev still remained the legal head of state.

“The rule of the Kalashnikov (rifle)” would take over throughout the country if the crisis was unresolved, he said. The new legislature, discredited though it is by the disputed February, March election that triggered the coup, assumed authority when the old assembly bowed out on Monday.

“The old parliament has ... passed all responsibility to the new one. They do not want friction,” deputy Nikolai Bailo told reporters. The bizarre development only underscored the uncertainty among the country’s new authorities. Tekebayev told deputies that parliament’s first task would be to confirm Bakiyev as prime minister.

He said nothing about Bakiyev’s appointment by the old parliament as acting president, but described its decision to name June 26 for new presidential elections as illegal.

Russian leader Putin, who spoke to Bakiyev on Saturday and whose country has given refuge to Mr Akayev, said in televised comments: “The political processes there (in Kyrghyzstan) are stormy, but they are not yet finished. We are not going to comment yet on what is happening.”

The new leaders have warned of civil war erupting and Bakiyev’s supporters say a plot to kill him has been uncovered. It was opposition allegations that the parliamentary poll was rigged that led to anti-Akayev unrest in the south of the country and then in the capital, climaxing in crowds storming government headquarters in the capital Bishkek.—Reuters