BISHKEK (AFP) - Kyrgyzstan expects transatlantic security group the OSCE to send unarmed police officials to help preserve order in its south after deadly ethnic clashes, the country's president said Friday.

Roza Otunbayeva said final discussions were under way about the deployment of the international police, who would number 50 officers and be tasked mainly with training the local police forces.
Organizations like Human Rights Watch have urged the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to send a police force to Kyrgyzstan after June's deadly clashes which officials fear may have claimed up to 2,000 lives.
“The OSCE police will carry out training in the southern city of Osh, give advice to members of the security forces and carry out monitoring,” Otunbayeva told a news conference.
The situation in Kyrgyzstan is expected to be a crucial issue at the two-day meeting of OSCE foreign ministers which opens Friday outside the Kazakh city of Almaty, with the police force likely to be discussed.