Career diplomat Roza Otunbayeva was sworn in as conflict-torn Kyrgyzstan's president yesterday, making her the first female leader in the history of ex-Soviet Central Asia.

Standing before an audience of more than 1,000 cheering onlookers in a packed Soviet-era concert hall in the capital Bishkek, Otunbayeva solemnly took her oath and promised 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 cannot be built on fantasies and illusions. It must become real and effective."

A former foreign minister and ambassador to Britain who was swept to power in a wave of bloody street riots last April that ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Otunbayeva takes office at a delicate moment.

Kyrgyzstan has been wracked by violence and political instability in recent months, and the inauguration comes just days after the approval of a new constitution making Kyrgyzstan the region's first parliamentary democracy.

The new charter, passed overwhelmingly in a referendum yesterday, slashes the powers of the president and sets the stage for parliamentary elections that authorities have scheduled for early October to bring in a permanent government.

Otunbayeva will serve as the country's caretaker president until after 2011 presidential elections, a position granted to her by last week's referendum, under which she has no right to stand in the next presidential polls.

Her government must also 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 may have killed as many as 2,000 people last month.

At least 75,000 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 have told AFP 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 attributing blame to any 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.

"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."

But Otunbayeva faces a series of daunting tasks not limited to the violence if she is to bring a measure of stability to the country, said independent Bishkek-based political analyst Marat Kazakbayev.

"The hardest things now for Otunbayeva are to raise the national economy, resolve security issues and social problems and to prove to the world her ability to govern in difficult conditions," he told AFP.

Opinions on Otunbayeva varied throughout Bishkek, but the historic nature of her status as the first female president in a region dominated by men seemed to be on everyone's lips.

"For the first time we have a female leader, and this can be an interesting lesson to the men, whom she can teach how to lead the country," said pensioner Irina Sidorkina.

Former soldier Marat Zhusupov said he saw things differently.

"A female president - this is totally frivolous... Maybe she could have come in during peace time, but on the brink of civil war it is not acceptable to be experimenting with an inexperienced woman," he said.

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