BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbaeva has named Kubat Baibolov as the country's new interior minister, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.
Otunbaeva issued a decree on July 7 naming former opposition politician Baibolov to replace Bolot Sher, who had been acting interior minister since President Kurmanbek Bakiev was ousted in early April.
Sher, who is a deputy leader of the Fatherland (Ata-Meken) party, said he had asked to be relieved of his post.
He repeated that he will participate in the parliamentary elections scheduled for October.
Otunbaeva has said that any government ministers planning to stand in the elections must resign from the cabinet.
Sher's arrest by police in the northwestern town of Talas on April 6 -- the day before Bakiev was forced from office -- caused an outcry and led to further unrest in Talas and spurred on the Bishkek protests against Bakiev.
Baibolov, a former parliament deputy, lived in self-exile in the United States from 2008-10.
Before his appointment as interior minister, Baibolov was the first deputy chairman of the Kyrgyz State Committee for national security and was appointed
by Otunbaeva as commandant of the Jalal-Abad region after the ethnic clashes that took place there in mid-June.
Otunbaeva issued a decree on July 7 naming former opposition politician Baibolov to replace Bolot Sher, who had been acting interior minister since President Kurmanbek Bakiev was ousted in early April.
Sher, who is a deputy leader of the Fatherland (Ata-Meken) party, said he had asked to be relieved of his post.
He repeated that he will participate in the parliamentary elections scheduled for October.
Otunbaeva has said that any government ministers planning to stand in the elections must resign from the cabinet.
Sher's arrest by police in the northwestern town of Talas on April 6 -- the day before Bakiev was forced from office -- caused an outcry and led to further unrest in Talas and spurred on the Bishkek protests against Bakiev.
Baibolov, a former parliament deputy, lived in self-exile in the United States from 2008-10.
Before his appointment as interior minister, Baibolov was the first deputy chairman of the Kyrgyz State Committee for national security and was appointed
by Otunbaeva as commandant of the Jalal-Abad region after the ethnic clashes that took place there in mid-June.