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UN Urges Kyrgyzstan to Quell Ethnic Violence

15 June 2010 19:26 (UTC +04:00)

A spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency, Andrej Mahecic, said Tuesday that unless peace and order is restored swiftly, more people will be displaced or try to cross into neighboring Uzbekistan. Mahecic said he was "alarmed" by the rapid escalation of violence that began last Thursday.

Officials say the riots targeting ethnic Uzbeks have killed at least 170 people and wounded more than 1,700 others in the cities of Osh and Jalalabad. Red Cross officials say the death toll is significantly higher.

Kyrgyzstanâ€™s interim leader Roza Otunbayeva said Tuesday a Russian-led security group has decided not to send peacekeepers to the country, despite an earlier request from Kyrgyzstan. Ms. Otunbayeva also said a national referendum on a new constitution would take place as planned, despite the violence.

The U.N. and the European Union had urged Kyrgyzstan not to allow the unrest to derail the referendum and parliamentary elections set for October.

Meanwhile, the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said it had evidence suggesting the violence was coordinated and began with five simultaneous attacks in Osh late Thursday.

The south is a power base for former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who was ousted in an April 7 uprising that killed 85 people. The deposed leader, who has taken refuge in Belarus, has denied interim leadersâ€™ allegations that his supporters fomented the ethnic violence. Mr. Bakiyevâ€™s younger son, Maxim, was arrested in Britain Monday. The interim Kyrgyz government accuses him of fraud.

During a phone conversation Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Ms. Otunbayeva that the U.N. was coordinating an international response to the humanitarian crisis.

The U.N.â€™s World Food Program said Tuesday it launched an emergency operation to feed civilians and was working with local authorities to distribute food in Osh. The group says transporting aid from the capital, Bishkek, is proving to be difficult due to security concerns.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on Tuesday called for the rapid restoration of peace and stability in Kyrgyzstan and said it was ready to help resolve the crisis.

And a team of independent U.N. investigators urged Kyrgyzstan to analyze the "true cause" of the countryâ€™s ethnic tensions to help ensure "that this appalling situation cannot happen again."