Kyrgyz Presdient refuses to step down

Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has made his first public appearance since being ousted in a wave of violent protests, defiantly slamming his opponents and refusing to step down.

Bakiyev, who fled the capital Bishkek last week amid the protests against his rule that left at least 81 people dead, was addressing a crowd of thousands of supporters in his home village of Teyit in southern Kyrgyzstan.

He was greeted near his family home on Monday by throngs of supporters cheering his name, an AFP correspondent reported.

Speaking to the crowd from the steps of the local mayor's office, Bakiyev insisted that he remains the legitimate president of the ex-Soviet state and accused the interim government of being "natural gangsters".

"I had some reasons for hiding. As you know, power was seized by force. It began first in (the northwestern city of) Talas and all the blame was put on my shoulders," he told the cheering crowd.

"I am the president, and no one has the right or the authority to make me leave my position. This is not a revolution, this is a seizure of power," he said,

Bakiyev also repeated his call for the United Nations to send a contingent of peacekeepers to held prevent further bloodshed in the impoverished Central Asian state.

It was first public appearance by the ousted leader since fleeing the capital. The interim government formed by ex-foreign minister Roza Otunbayeva has demanded he resign and accused him of attempting to foment civil war, earlier threatening to use force against him.

"The interim government is prepared to use force in the event that Bakiyev attempts to destabilise the situation," Omurbek Tekebayev, a deputy head of the interim government, said on national radio on Sunday.

"Bakiyev must resign, and announce his decision to the people," said Tekebayev, a leader of the anti-Bakiyev forces that have seized power in the former Soviet republic.