Roza Otunbayeva,59, becomes Kyrgyzstan’s interim leader after President Kurmanbek Bakiyev fleeing from the capital due to the bloody uprising that led to 74 civilians dead and injured more than 400. Roza Otunbayeva was the former foreign minister.
Mrs Otunbayeva was a one-time ally of Mr Bakiyev, and worked in his cabinet following the 2005 “Tulip Revolution”, which overthrew the government of Askar Akayev.
In 1981 Mrs Otunbayeva began her political rise as the Communist Party’s 2nd secretary of the Lenin regional council (raikom) of Frunze (current Bishkek). In late 1980s she served as head of the USSR Delegation to UNESCO in Paris and later as the Soviet Ambassador to Malaysia. By 1992, the now independent Kyrgyzstan was led by Askar Akayev. He chose her to be both Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, positions she held until later that year when she became her country’s first ambassador to the USA and Canada. She returned to her original post in 1994, remaining there for 3 years. In 1998-2001 she served as the first Kyrgyz ambassador to the United Kingdom. In 2002-2004 she was the deputy head of the United Nations special mission to Georgia.
