Kyrgyz leader puts toll at 2,000
Source: Agencies |
June 19, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
KYRGYZSTAN'S interim president said yesterday that 2,000 people may have died in the ethnic clashes that have rocked the country's south -- many times her government's official estimate -- as she made her first visit to a riot-hit city since the unrest erupted.
The deputy head of the provisional government, Azimbek Beknazarov, put the official death toll on both sides at 223 on Thursday, but others said the figure could be significantly higher.
The deaths have been due to rampages led mainly by ethnic Kyrgyz against Uzbeks.
"I would increase by 10 times the official data on the number of people killed," Interim President Roza Otunbayeva said, according to her spokesman, Farid Niyazov.
She said current figures don't take into account those buried before sundown on the day of death in keeping with Muslim tradition, according to the spokesman.
There was no indication of whether a comprehensive body count was conducted, but Otunbayeva's estimate appeared credible. Official counts have been based solely on deaths registered at major hospitals.
The United Nations said that as many as 1 million people may eventually need aid in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, including refugees, the internally displaced, host families and others who may suffer from the unrest.
The aid agencies say those uprooted by the unrest most urgently need food, water, medicine and shelter.
The UN's aid airlift into Kyrgyzstan was scheduled to begin this weekend.
Up to 100,000 people have crossed the border into Uzbekistan, where they are getting food and water in camps. Thousands more remain camped in squalid conditions on the Kyrgyz side, unable to cross due to Uzbek restrictions.
In a sign that tensions remain high, hundreds of ethnic Uygurs have fled communities in the capital, Bishkek, after receiving threats that they would be the next targets of violence.
As many as 70,000 Uygurs, a Turkic people with a significant presence in Central Asia, live in or near Bishkek.
Most have fled for Kazakhstan, where many have relatives, the vice president of the country's Uygur community, Zhamaldin Nasyrov, told AP.
He said unidentified people have visited the area in jeeps, writing ominous warnings on houses and fences.
"Instigators who want to sow panic act in these villages," Nasyrov said. "We try to ignore their threats, but we are trying to work out security measures to protect our women and children."
Kyrgyz authorities have said the violence was sparked deliberately by associates of Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the president who was toppled in April.
The UN has said the unrest appeared orchestrated but stopped short of assigning blame.
The deputy head of the provisional government, Azimbek Beknazarov, put the official death toll on both sides at 223 on Thursday, but others said the figure could be significantly higher.
The deaths have been due to rampages led mainly by ethnic Kyrgyz against Uzbeks.
"I would increase by 10 times the official data on the number of people killed," Interim President Roza Otunbayeva said, according to her spokesman, Farid Niyazov.
She said current figures don't take into account those buried before sundown on the day of death in keeping with Muslim tradition, according to the spokesman.
There was no indication of whether a comprehensive body count was conducted, but Otunbayeva's estimate appeared credible. Official counts have been based solely on deaths registered at major hospitals.
The United Nations said that as many as 1 million people may eventually need aid in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, including refugees, the internally displaced, host families and others who may suffer from the unrest.
The aid agencies say those uprooted by the unrest most urgently need food, water, medicine and shelter.
The UN's aid airlift into Kyrgyzstan was scheduled to begin this weekend.
Up to 100,000 people have crossed the border into Uzbekistan, where they are getting food and water in camps. Thousands more remain camped in squalid conditions on the Kyrgyz side, unable to cross due to Uzbek restrictions.
In a sign that tensions remain high, hundreds of ethnic Uygurs have fled communities in the capital, Bishkek, after receiving threats that they would be the next targets of violence.
As many as 70,000 Uygurs, a Turkic people with a significant presence in Central Asia, live in or near Bishkek.
Most have fled for Kazakhstan, where many have relatives, the vice president of the country's Uygur community, Zhamaldin Nasyrov, told AP.
He said unidentified people have visited the area in jeeps, writing ominous warnings on houses and fences.
"Instigators who want to sow panic act in these villages," Nasyrov said. "We try to ignore their threats, but we are trying to work out security measures to protect our women and children."
Kyrgyz authorities have said the violence was sparked deliberately by associates of Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the president who was toppled in April.
The UN has said the unrest appeared orchestrated but stopped short of assigning blame.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
