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UN tells Kyrgyzstan to stop unrest from
going past borders
STOPPING BLOODSHED: CSTO is holding off on deploying peacekeepers, although a
refugee crisis is building along the border with Uzbekistan
REUTERS , BISHKEK AND NARIMAN, KYRGYZSTAN
Wednesday, Jun 16, 2010, Page 1
The UN yesterday urged Kyrgyzstan to prevent the spread of
indiscriminate ethnic killing beyond its borders and said the number of refugees
fleeing the clashes may soon exceed 100,000.
At least 170 people have been killed in the cities of Osh and Jalalabad in the
deadliest ethnic clashes in Kyrgyzstan in 20 years. Witnesses said gangs armed
with automatic rifles, iron bars and machetes set fire to houses and shot
fleeing residents.
The clashes, which began on Thursday night and escalated over the weekend, have
fuelled concern in Russia and the US, both of whom operate military air bases in
the nation.
Analysts say that if southern Kyrgyzstan, which shares the densely populated
Ferghana Valley with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, descends into chaos, it could
help militant Islamists financed by drugs.
But interim Kyrgyz leader Roza Otunbayeva said it was clear the region¡¦s main
security bloc, the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO),
would not fulfil Bishkek¡¦s request for the immediate dispatch of peacekeeping
forces.
UN Special Envoy Miroslav Jenca said Kyrgyzstan should take every step possible
to ensure that violence did not spread to other parts of ex-Soviet Central Asia.
¡§The most important task now is to stop the bloodshed,¡¨ Jenca told reporters.
This conflict should be localized.¡¨
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay urged local and national
authorities in Kyrgyzstan to take ¡§swift and decisive action¡¨ to protect
citizens, irrespective of their ethnic origin.
¡§It seems indiscriminate killings, including of children, and rapes have been
taking place on the basis of ethnicity,¡¨ Pillay said in a statement late on
Monday.
UN political chief Lynn Pascoe called for the urgent creation of a humanitarian
corridor to ensure aid was delivered to victims of the violence.
Osh appeared calm yesterday. However, the interim government, which assumed
power after the president was overthrown in April, was bracing for violence in
the capital Bishkek and another region of the north, which is separated from the
densely populated south by mountains.
It has accused supporters of the ousted president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, of stoking
ethnic conflict. Bakiyev, who is in exile in Belarus, has denied this
allegation.
CSTO proposed on Monday to send helicopters and equipment to help Kyrgyzstan¡¦s
government stop the ethnic violence. However, Kyrgyzstan said it had been told
not to expect the immediate dispatch of peacekeeping troops.
The UN said it had received information from the Uzbek authorities that 75,000
refugees had massed on the Uzbek side of the border. Uzbekistan has closed its
border, saying it was unable to cope with the flood of refugees.
The border closing has stranded thousands of ethnic Uzbek refugees in
Kyrgyzstan, , although the wounded were still being allowed through in small
numbers.
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