Kyrgyzstan elects acting PM, rearrests ex-president amid power struggle

Protests over a disputed parliamentary election on Sunday developed into violent clashes, during which supporters freed prominent prisoners including Atambayev and Japarov.
Incumbent president Sooronbay Jeenbekov had appeared to reassert control on Saturday following a week of unrest during which he promised to stand down.
Atambayev was rearrested Saturday on suspicion of organising mass disorder, along with one of his bodyguards and another accomplice, the state national security committee said.
The committee was currently "identifying and arresting other accomplices of this crime", it said.
Atambayev was serving an 11-year sentence for his role in the illegal release of a crime boss when his supporters freed him on Monday.
Atambayev's spokeswoman Kunduz Joldubayeva also confirmed his arrest, telling AFP by telephone that "special forces stormed (Atambayev's) compound" outside Bishkek.
"They arrested the former president," Joldubayeva said.
Shortly afterwards, a majority of lawmakers voted for Japarov, a headstrong populist, as acting prime minister during an extraordinary session of the parliament.
Japarov said he expected Jeenbekov to honour a pledge to resign once a government had been formed, which the president made as clashes between rival groups escalated on Friday.
"I met with him here at the state residency. He said that after confirming the cabinet and government structures, he would resign," Japarov said at his confirmation.
Japarov said he did not plan changes to the cabinet immediately, but would appoint young ministers in the future.
Japarov had been serving an 11.5-year sentence for hostage-taking and other crimes when he was freed on Monday night as chaos reigned.
A court annulled the verdict as Japarov's supporters, many of them behaving aggressively, flooded into the city.
President Jeenbekov on Friday ordered a state of emergency in the country's capital Bishkek, as shots were fired and at least five people injured in clashes between supporters of groups competing to form a government.
The 61-year-old president had said he was "ready to resign", but only after law and order had been restored -- a pledge some critics described as a tactical manoeuvre.
The instability came after supporters of Jeenbekov won parliamentary elections on Sunday that the opposition and monitors said had been marred by vote-buying.
Although the result was subsequently cancelled by the electoral authorities, this failed to quell unrest.
The unrest has alarmed ally Moscow, which has seen neighbouring ally Belarus rocked by post-election protests and war break out over Nagorno-Karabakh.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was "deeply concerned" about the "situation resembling a mess and chaos" on Thursday.
Jeenbekov came to power in 2017 with support from Atambayev but the two fell out soon afterwards and Atambayev was jailed during a previous bout of political violence last year.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, to whom both men are loyal, failed in his attempt to resolve the pair's standoff.
Kyrgyzstan has seen two presidents overthrown by street protests since independence from the Soviet Union.