BANGKOK - The military leaders of the 19 Sept coup, which ousted Thaksin Shinawatra and his government, have stepped aside following their appointment of Surayud Chulanont as interim Prime Minister and the announcement of a provisional constitution that they believe will return the country to full democracy within a year.

Gen Surayud, a former army chief and Supreme Commander, was most recently a senior advisor to the royal court. A distinguished military career included a stint in the early nineties as the chief of the army?s Special Warfare Command, where he was the commanding officer of Gen Sonthi Bunyaratkarin ? the leader of the 19 Sept coup.

Gen Sonthi and the other chiefs of the Thai military, who have been running the country as the Council for Democratic Reform since the coup, will now take the roles as chiefs of the Council for National Security until such time as democratic elections can be held. Though they will still retain the power to remove the interim administration, should it fail to bring about democratic rule, Gen Sonthi told the Reuters news agency last week that the council ??will be the government's tool to keep peace."

An interim constitution was also announced, shortly before Gen Surayud was named PM. The coup leaders had dismantled the previous constitution ? introduced in 1997 ? after they seized power, claiming that it contained major loopholes that had allowed the Thaksin administration to abuse its position and defraud the country of billions of baht. Former PM Thaksin ? currently in London ? has denied the accusations, however the coup leaders have given increased powers to the National Counter Corruption Commission in order to pursue allegations that Thaksin?s government had siphoned off more than 11 billion baht from mega-project funding.