UN appeal for Kyrgyzstan: over 71 million dollars needed
Bishkek (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The UN has launched a global appeal for 71 million dollars for Kyrgyzstan to be collected in one week. Another fundraiser will be held in favour of Uzbekistan, where there are now about 100 thousand of the over 400 thousand refugees from Kyrgyzstan, who fled ethnic violence that exploded last week in Osh. To date, the official toll of violence is 200 dead and tens of thousands injured, but according to UN estimates could be more than 2 thousand victims.
Today UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon urged the international community to intervene to stop the humanitarian catastrophe that could have hit an estimated one million people. "Food, water and electricity is lacking - he said - because of looting, few supplies and checkpoints. Hospitals and other institutions are running out of medical supplies. " Ban Ki Moon added that there are still tens of thousands of people waiting to emigrate Uzbek border.
At present the real causes of conflict remain unclear. It started last June 10 after a brawl between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in an Osh casino. But according to some witnesses the violence was orchestrated from above and the planning involved members of the military related to the former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev deposed on 15 April.
According to Robert Blake, special envoy for the U.S. government in Central Asia, visiting the country, the former president is behind the outbreak of ethnic violence. But the President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov says "Neither the Uzbek or Kyrgyz are to blame for the violence. These destructive actions were organized and controlled from abroad".
Meanwhile, there is growing uncertainty over the constitutional referendum of 27 June, the government seems determined to postpone it, against the advice of international leaders who fear that the delay could trigger new violence that it aims to prevent.
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