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OSCE countries to provide consolidated support to Kyrgyzstan

17 July 2010 18:24 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) countries agreed to provide consolidated support to the ex-Soviet Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakh Foreign Minister and Acting Chair of the OSCE Kanat Saudabayev said Saturday, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.
"Today we reached an agreement on strengthening of consolidated support from the OSCE, which will include a group of police consultants sent to Kyrgyzstan, a significant strengthening of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek and its local departments, especially in problem areas," Saudabayev said.
He also said that the organization will continue its consolidated work on humanitarian aid.
"Probably, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights help republic in trhe forthcoming parliamentary elections," Saudabayev said adding that Kazakhstan actively participates in a development of an economic recovery program in Kyrgyzstan.
OSCE Secretary General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut said the organization needs to finalize agreements on advisory groups and police activity in Kyrgyzstan.
Director of OSCE Conflict Prevention Herbert Zalberg said on Friday that a police advisory group, composed of 52 officers from OSCE states, may be sent to the southern regions of Kyrgyzstan. The idea has already been discussed with Kyrgyz officials but the final decision will be taken on July 22.
Zalberg said on Saturday that sending a police advisory group from Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to Kyrgyzstan for four months would cost several million Euros.
Violent clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan broke out in the city of Osh on June 11 and then spread to the neighboring Jalalabad region. Unofficial estimates put the death toll at around 2,000 people, while half a million may have been made homeless by the violent pogroms, which saw thousands of homes burned.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said at Saturday’s meeting that it was too early to talk of Kyrgyz stability, despite the peaceful and democratic of a recent referendum in the country.
He said the main reason for the uprisings in Kyrgyzstan were the country’s underdeveloped economy, poverty, a weak power structure and the fragility of democratic institutions.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the OSCE’s reaction to the events in Kyrgyzstan showed the organization’s ability to cope with crisis.