Kyrgyzstan's provisional leader Roza Otunbayeva was sworn in as president Saturday, making her the first female president in the history of ex-Soviet Central Asia.
Her inauguration in a concert hall in Bishkek comes just days after the country overwhelmingly approved a new constitution.
Over the course of her tenure as caretaker president, which lasts to the end of 2011, Ms. Otunbayeva will oversee the implementation of the new constitution and the establishment of the region's first parliamentary democracy.
Parliamentary elections are set for October 10.
Kyrgyzstan's interim government has struggled to impose order since it took power following the April 7 deadly uprising that ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.
An estimated 2,000 people were killed during ethnic clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks that began June 10 in the southern cities of Osh and Jalalabad.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.