Kyrgyzstan's government and opposition must exercise restraint after violent protests in southern towns over the results of this month's parliamentary elections, said United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. ``The secretary general is opposed to the use of violence and intimidation to resolve electoral and political disputes,'' the UN said in a statement on its Web site. Annan ``calls on all parties to apply restraint.'' President Askar Akayev yesterday offered to hold talks with the opposition, a move welcomed by Annan, the UN said. Protesters took over government buildings and blocked the airports in Osh and Jalal-Abad in the past two days, Agence France-Presse reported, citing witnesses in the towns. The opposition charges fraud in the March 13 run-off election won by parties supporting Akayev, who has ruled the central Asian nation of 5 million people since 1991. Kyrgyzstan's economy depends on agricultural production with cotton and tobacco its main exports. About 50 percent of people lived below the poverty line in 2003, according to U.S. government data. Akayev last week warned of a possible civil war and has said that popular protests such as those that resulted in leadership changes in the former Soviet republics of Ukraine last year and in Georgia in 2003 won't be tolerated in Kyrgyzstan, AFP reported. Akayev has said he won't stand in presidential elections scheduled for Oct. 30.