BISHKEK -- Kyrgyzstan's National Security Service (SNB) has issued an address to the country calling on citizens to help the interim government reestablish order and stability, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.
The statement assures Kyrgyz that the SNB will do everything it can to "preserve stability in the country in this very difficult period of its history."
It adds that in order to implement the decisions of the self-declared interim government to strengthen democracy and the nation's security, the SNB will fulfill its duty and help the country "preserve its statehood and integrity."
Critics alleged that the SNB was a key tool for President Kurmanbek Bakiev in his persecution of opposition officials and independent journalists.
But Keneshbek Duishebaev is now in charge of the SNB as acting chairman of the state committee on national security, a post to which he was appointed by the interim government.
Duishebaev was Kyrgyzstan's interior minister under former President Askar Akaev, who was ousted in the 2005 Tulip Revolution. Many observers attribute the ease with which protesters ousted the government to the fact that Duishebaev's forces did not fire on demonstrators.
Duishebaev is also the leader of the opposition Justice party.