Asia, Kyrgyz | featured news

Interim leader Roza Otunbayeva is inaugurated as president of troubled Kyrgyzstan, weeks after hundreds died during ethnic violence, state media reports.

The interim leaders of Kyrgyzstan said voters approved a new constitution Sunday that will allow the Central Asian nation to form a legitimate government after months of turmoil.

President Roza Otunbayeva called the referendum a success, saying it took place without incident and paved the way for holding parliamentary elections in October. The vote came just weeks after rampages against minority Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan killed as many as 2,000 people and forced 400,000 ethnic Uzbeks to temporarily flee.

The U.N. number is a dramatic increase over the official estimate of a crisis that has left throng refugees without enough food and water in camps along the Uzbek border.