KYRGYZ GOVERNMENT RESIGNS.

The government of Kyrgyzstan resigned yesterday after President Askar Akaev pronounced it incapable of working. It was the National Security Council which formally made the decision to dismiss the government upon the president’s proposal, and after rejecting Prime Minister Kubanychbek Zhumaliev’s activity report.

The decision followed an agitated parliamentary session during which Finance Minister Taalaibek Koichumanov protested against the purge of officials in his ministry on corruption charges (see the Monitor, December 14, 18). Koichumanov argued that Akaev had been misled by the security apparatus and the General Prosecutor’s office into ordering a purge of innocent officials while real culprits are elsewhere (Xinhua, December 23; Russian agencies, December 22).

YELTSIN UPBRAIDS INTERIOR MINISTER, SAYING HE DOESN’T WANT DOCTORED CRIME STATS.