The mantle of leadership had fallen upon  Roza Otunbayeva  as the first  female  president  of Kyrgyzstan  at a time the  country was  riddled with crises. TOLUWANI OLAMITOKE takes a look at her activities and efforts at returning peace to the land.

A diplomat and politician,  Roza Otunbayeva was sworn in on July 3, 2010  as president  of a  conflict-torn Kyrgyzstan, making her the first female leader in the history of ex-Soviet Central Asia.

Her   swearing-in  held  after she had  acted as interim  leader, following the 2010 April revolution which led to the ousting of then president,  Kurmanbek Bakiyev.     A former foreign minister and ambassador to the United Kingdom and head of the parliamentary caucus for the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan, Otunbayeva, no doubt took over  at a delicate moment.

Otunbayeva who is  a  former  senior  professor and head of the philosophy department at Kyrgyz State National University stood  before a crowd of more than 1,000 cheering onlookers and  somberly took her  oath, promising  a new  political era for increasingly-unstable Kyrgyzstan.

"As president, I  will spare no effort to create a new political culture for the country based on a strict adherence to the rule of law," she told the assembled crowd.

"I  must be principled and consistently make demands on all branches of government to ensure it. The new policy can not be built on fantasies and illusions. It must become real and effective,”she said.

Kyrgyzstan has been wrecked by violence and political instability since her government, comprised mostly of former officials from the Bakiyev regime, came to power in the April coup.

Her inauguration came  just days after the country overwhelmingly approved a new constitution, making Kyrgyzstan the region's first parliamentary democracy, a move the government hope  will bring a measure of stability.

The new constitution slashed  the powers of the president and set  the stage for parliamentary elections  which  authorities  scheduled and held  early October to bring in a permanent government.

As an outcome  of this, Otunbayeva thus   serve as president until after  this year’s   elections, and  also occupy the post of Prime Minister until the upcoming elections are able to seat a new parliament.

One of the missions  of her  governmen is to  work to ease tensions in the south of the country, where deadly clashes     between ethnic majority Kyrgyz and minority Uzbeks in and around the cities of Osh and Jalalabad  had  killed as many as 2,000 people  last year. At least 75,000 people fled to neighbouring Uzbekistan, but all of these have now returned, leading international aid agencies to warn of an impending humanitarian crisis in dealing with the thousands of families left homeless.

Victims  said that the violence was an  orchestrated campaign by armed Kyrgyz militias targeting Uzbeks, who make up about 14 per cent of Kyrgyzstan's population of 5.3 million.

Otunbayeva struck a conciliatory tone over the violence, carefully avoiding placing blame on one ethnic group, while promising that the government would do more to ensure the return of services to its citizens in the devastated south.

"Today Kyrgyzstan is going through one of the most dramatic periods in its history. Unfortunately, tragic events took place in the Osh and Jalalabad regions.... Dark forces have spilled blood of many innocent people,"  she said.

She added, "For my part, I give my word that the state will do everything possible, as soon as possible to overcome the consequences of the tragedy."

International rights groups have accused the Kyrgyz authorities of turning a blind eye to rising nationalism  amongst ethnic Kyrgyz and allowing for the increasing marginalisation of the country's ethnic minorities.

But   in Washington, the  United States  Secretary of State,  Hillary Clinton praised Mrs Otunbayeva's "tremendous courage, leadership, and tenacity", after the US state department made her one of 10 recipients of its annual award.

"In the face of a collapsing government, regional divisions, economic privation, she emerged as a unifier, someone who kept Kyrgyzstan whole after tragedy and upheaval," Mrs Clinton said.

Mrs Clinton stressed  that   Mrs Otunbayeva's pledge to share power with other elected officials and to hold further elections had offered "an invaluable lesson to fledgling democracies everywhere."

The United States president, Barack Obama thanked the Kyrgyz leader for her support for a continued US military presence in Kyrgyzstan.

But  in her reaction  to the award, Uzbek human rights activist, Mutabar Tadjibayeva—a recipient of the US award three years ago declared that   she would   hand back her prize in protes over Mrs Otunbayeva's award.

Ms Tadjibayeva said: "When Mrs Otunbayeva was a leader of the opposition and was speaking out against injustice, I think then it would have been right to award her. But it is during her presidency that we have seen bloodshed.

Otunbayeva,  a divorced mother of two children  is fluent in Russian and  can speak English, German and French in addition to Kyrgyz.

The Kyrgyzstan president    however, is prohibited from running in the 2011 presidential election  while  her term will end on December 31.