Kyrgyzstan’s Interim President Roza Otunbayeva has said that she believes nearly 700 people have died while other reports say that over 200,000 have fled their homes in the current ethnic violence in the Central Asian country.

United Nations relief supplies for around 200,000 refugees fleeing ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan arrived in neighboring Uzbekistan, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said on Wednesday.
“The first of six planned Ilyushin-76 cargo planes, each carrying 40 tons of UNHCR relief supplies for refugees, has landed at Andijan airport in Uzbekistan after departing with supplies loaded from the aid agency’s stockpile in Dubai,” the UNHCR said in an e-mailed statement.
The UNHCR said more than 75,000 people have arrived since June 10, citing the Uzbek government, though some reports say the total number of displaced since the ousting of former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April may be around 275,000. The death toll from the last six days of rioting in the Osh and Jalalabad regions of Kyrgyzstan may be much higher than previously announced, according to news reports.
Interim President Roza Otunbayeva said she believed 700 may have died, the Wall Street Journal reported, while Christian Cardon, a spokesman for the Red Cross, referred to “several hundreds” of deaths, according to the Associated Press. Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said there was evidence the violence was coordinated and began with five attacks in Osh by men in ski masks, the AP said.
‘Dangerous’
“This is an extremely dangerous situation given the ethnic patchwork in this part of Kyrgyzstan, it’s a highly complex ethnic mix there with some 80 ethnic groups just in the Osh region,” Colville said, according to the AP. “It has been known for many years that this region is a potential ethnic tinderbox.”
The violence erupted on June 10 when supporters of former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev clashed with groups loyal to the interim government. The Uzbeks welcomed Bakiyev’s overthrow in April, blaming him for impeding the minority’s business growth and ignoring its political leaders, while many Kyrgyz in the south supported Bakiyev, who comes from the region.
The clashes were aimed at disrupting a June 27 referendum on a new constitution and were funded by people close to Bakiyev, according to the government’s first deputy head, Almazbek Atambayev, Interfax reported on Tuesday.
“It was a carefully planned operation conducted by the enemies of the interim government,” Atambayev said. “Its goal was to overthrow the new authorities of Kyrgyzstan and to thwart the referendum. The information available to our special services confirms that all of these measures were funded by the Bakiyev family, particularly Bakiyev’s youngest son Maxim.”
Influence
The United Nations and the European Union urged Kyrgyzstan not to allow the unrest to derail the referendum and October parliamentary elections.
Otunbayeva on Tuesday pledged to proceed with plans for the plebiscite, the Wall St. Journal said.
The U.S. and Russia have been jostling for influence in Kyrgyzstan, where both countries have air bases. Russia agreed in April to give the provisional government $50 million. Edil Baisalov, the government’s chief of staff, said at the time that the U.S. planned to give emergency aid.
The U.S. relies on the Manas air base outside the capital Bishkek to support operations in Afghanistan after Uzbekistan evicted the American military in 2005.
U.S. troops gathered food and fuel and sent it to the worst-affected area, according to a statement from the U.S. Air Force received Tuesday.
Economic backdrop
The International Monetary Fund on May 25 warned Kyrgyzstan’s projected 4.6 percent economic expansion this year may be damped by political upheaval. The fund predicted 8 percent growth for Uzbekistan, the world’s third-biggest shipper of cotton, at the time.
Landlocked Kyrgyzstan depends on remittances from migrant workers in Russia for about 40 percent of national income, and also relies on rent paid by the U.S. and Russia for their bases. Kyrgyzstan’s average monthly wage was $132 in January, according to the country’s National Statistical Committee.
About a third of the population lives below the poverty level, making the country eligible for aid from the International Development Association, the World Bank’s support arm for the poorest economies.
Maxim Bakiyev was detained in Britain on June 14 by the U.K. Border Agency after he landed at Farnborough airport in Hampshire on a rented private plane, Kyrgyzstan’s national security chief Keneshbek Duishebayev told Channel One broadcaster, according to Interfax. His father, who has taken refuge in Belarus, has denied accusations that he is involved in the unrest.
(Source: Bloomberg)
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