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Journalism of Courage
Kyrgyzstans interim President said on Friday that the death toll from the ethnic clashes that have rocked the countrys south could be near 2,000,as she made her first visit to a riot-hit city since the unrest broke out. Kyrgyz Health Ministry officials figures put the number of killed in rampages led mainly by ethnic Kyrgyz against Uzbeks at 191.
I would increase by ten 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 dont take into account those buried before sundown on the day of death,in keeping with Muslim tradition,according to the spokesman.
The UN said as many as 1 million people may need aid in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan,including the potential number of refugees,internally displaced,host families and others that may suffer in one way or another from the unrest.
UNICEF spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume said the figure was an estimate to help agencies plan how much aid they need to prepare. She says the actual number of people in need may be turn out to be higher or lower.
Otumbayeva arrived on Friday by helicopter in Osh,where the violence began late last week. Parts of the city have been reduced to rubble by mobs of young Kyrgyz men.
The UN estimates that 400,000 people fled the countrys south.
We have to give hope that we shall restore the city,return all the refugees and create all the conditions for that, she said. She insisted good will between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks would end hostilities.
US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake,who was visiting a refugee camp in Uzbekistan about 5 kms from the Kyrgyz border,called for an investigation into the violence and said he was working to ensure the refugees would be able to return home safely.
At one camp in Uzbekistan,in a former polymer plant near the Kyrgyz border,Blake was swamped by throngs of crying refugees.
We… believe there should be an investigation, he said,an Uzbek interpreter at his side. We are working with the government of Kyrgyzstan to provide security so you can return home safely.
