Kyrgyzstan death toll now seen as 'several hundred'
Source: Agencies |
June 16, 2010, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
SEVERAL hundred people have been killed in the riots in Kyrgyzstan, the Red Cross said yesterday, as new reports strengthened suspicions that the violence was deliberately ignited to undermine the Central Asian nation's interim government.
The southern part of Kyrgyzstan has been convulsed by days of rioting targeting minority Uzbeks, which has left the country's second-largest city, Osh, in smoldering ruins and sent over 100,000 Uzbeks fleeing for their lives to neighboring Uzbekistan.
Overwhelmed by the deluge, Uzbekistan closed the border yesterday, leaving thousands camped out on the Kyrgyz side or stranded behind barbed-wire fences in no-man's land.
As the United States, Russia and the United Nations flew in humanitarian supplies, the leader of the country's interim government pressed Moscow again to send in troops to quell the violence.
The International Committee of the Red Cross had no precise figure of the dead, but spokesman Christian Cardon said "we are talking about several hundreds."
Kyrgyzstan's Interim President Roza Otunbayeva also admitted yesterday the real death toll likely was "several times higher" than the official count of 171 people killed, because many victims were buried by their relatives the same day in keeping with the Muslim tradition.
Nearly 1,800 were injured, the Health Ministry said.
Otunbayeva said she also talked again with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev about sending in troops, a move Moscow had refused over the weekend. Both the US and Moscow have air bases in the strategically located nation, but they are in the north, away from the rioting.
Otunbayeva's government, which took over when former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted in an April uprising, has accused Bakiyev's family of instigating the violence to halt a June 27 referendum on a new constitution.
From self-imposed exile in Belarus, Bakiyev has denied any ties to the violence, but Otunbayeva insisted yesterday that his supporters had stoked the conflict.
"Many instigators have been detained and they are giving evidence on Bakiyev's involvement in the events. No one has doubts that he is involved," she said.
Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva there was evidence the violence was coordinated and began with five simultaneous attacks in Osh by men wearing ski masks.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay also said the fighting "appears to be orchestrated, targeted and well-planned" and urged authorities to act before it spread further.
The southern part of Kyrgyzstan has been convulsed by days of rioting targeting minority Uzbeks, which has left the country's second-largest city, Osh, in smoldering ruins and sent over 100,000 Uzbeks fleeing for their lives to neighboring Uzbekistan.
Overwhelmed by the deluge, Uzbekistan closed the border yesterday, leaving thousands camped out on the Kyrgyz side or stranded behind barbed-wire fences in no-man's land.
As the United States, Russia and the United Nations flew in humanitarian supplies, the leader of the country's interim government pressed Moscow again to send in troops to quell the violence.
The International Committee of the Red Cross had no precise figure of the dead, but spokesman Christian Cardon said "we are talking about several hundreds."
Kyrgyzstan's Interim President Roza Otunbayeva also admitted yesterday the real death toll likely was "several times higher" than the official count of 171 people killed, because many victims were buried by their relatives the same day in keeping with the Muslim tradition.
Nearly 1,800 were injured, the Health Ministry said.
Otunbayeva said she also talked again with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev about sending in troops, a move Moscow had refused over the weekend. Both the US and Moscow have air bases in the strategically located nation, but they are in the north, away from the rioting.
Otunbayeva's government, which took over when former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted in an April uprising, has accused Bakiyev's family of instigating the violence to halt a June 27 referendum on a new constitution.
From self-imposed exile in Belarus, Bakiyev has denied any ties to the violence, but Otunbayeva insisted yesterday that his supporters had stoked the conflict.
"Many instigators have been detained and they are giving evidence on Bakiyev's involvement in the events. No one has doubts that he is involved," she said.
Rupert Colville, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters in Geneva there was evidence the violence was coordinated and began with five simultaneous attacks in Osh by men wearing ski masks.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay also said the fighting "appears to be orchestrated, targeted and well-planned" and urged authorities to act before it spread further.
- 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.
