TEYYIT, Kyrgyzstan - Kyrgyzstan's new rulers on Tuesday gave ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev until the end of the day to surrender, threatening otherwise to launch a special operation against his stronghold in the south.

But the ousted president said he was willing to resign if his security was guaranteed.

Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who fled the capital amid bloody protests last week, made the statement hours after holding a rally with about 5,000 supporters that seemed aimed at gauging his ability to resist the self-declared provisional government.

In his home village of Teyyit, he said at a news conference: "I will go into retirement if security is guaranteed for me and my relatives."

There was no immediate response from the interim authorities in Bishkek.

Bakiyev fled to the Jalalabad region of the mountainous Central Asian state from the capital after troops fired on protesters on April 7, sparking the uprising that brought his opponents to power.

Bakiyev, who swept to power five years ago in the "Tulip Revolution" that ousted the country's first post-Soviet ruler Askar Akayev, on Monday warned the self-proclaimed interim government that any attempt to detain him would result in bloodshed.

"I believe this will lead to such a great deal of bloodshed which no one will be able to justify," he said. "Let them try to seize me. Let them try to kill me."

"We have abolished his presidential immunity... We expect him to show up voluntarily (to resign formally). But he continues rallying with his supporters in Jalalabad," said Azimbek Beknazarov, the interim minister in charge of security.

At least 82 people died and hundreds more were wounded in the firing on April 7.

The new security minister said he should surrender after addressing his supporters.

"We have opened a criminal case against the former president. If he does not show up today after the rally we will hold an operation to detain him," Beknazarov said.

The drama of the standoff in Kyrgyzstan, an impoverished nation of 5.3 million people, is important to the United States because of the Manas air base which it rents to support the war in Afghanistan.

REUTERS - ASSOCIATED PRESS

(China Daily 04/14/2010 page12)