UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on the new leadership in Kyrgyzstan to encourage national dialogue and reconciliation in the wake of last year's overthrow of the government and subsequent deadly ethnic clashes.
The statement from Ban's office comes one day after Almazbek Atambaev, a former prime minister, was inaugurated as Kyrgyzstan's president to take over from an interim administration that stepped in when Kurmanbek Bakiev fled mounting public anger in April 2010.
The statement, issued by Ban's spokesperson, also offered congratulations and the continued support of the United Nations to the people of Kyrgyzstan. It also commended outgoing leader Roza Otunbaeva "for her important role over the last 18 months in promoting a stable and democratic Kyrgyzstan."
Akambaev's inauguration represented the country's
first post-Soviet example of an organized transition from one administration to the next in a process that some are hoping could prove a model for the autocrat-heavy region.