Southern Kyrgyzstan under curfew after deadly violence

BISHKEK, June 12, - World leaders call for calm in Kyrgyzstan after ethnic violence in the south killed at least 45 and injured 630 Friday, forcing the government to impose a state of emergency and a curfew.

Interim President Roza Otunbayeva, whose government has struggled to assert its rule over the ex-Soviet Central Asian state since taking power amid unrest in April, acknowledged the authorities had not yet contained the violence.

And in the capital Bishkek, thousands of protesters gathered demanding to travel south to Osh, the seat of the violence, to take part in the fighting.

“The situation remains tense,” Otunbayeva said in a statement Friday.

“Similar conflicts occurred in the month of May. Then we were able to bring the situation under control by imposing a state of emergency.“Now again we are forced to impose a curfew.”

In Bishkek, protesters seized cars and minibuses and commandeered them to travel to Osh, while police used dogs to break up protests, the Kabar news agency reported.

“We need the means and manpower to stop the stream of people trying to reach Osh,” Otunbayeva said.

Witnesses in Osh described chaotic scenes Friday, with gunfire ringing out throughout the day and heavily armed helicopters swooping low over the city centre.

“I can’t leave the city. There are no flights, no cars, no public transport whatsoever,” Andrea Berg, Central Asia researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), told AFP by phone.

“There is still shooting going on. While I’m talking to you I hear shooting and it’s really not far away,” she said.In a statement issued by HRW later Friday, Berg called on the international community to help the Kyrgyz government prevent the violence from spinning out of control.

“This should be on the urgent agenda of the UN Security Council.”

Many ethnic Uzbeks were trying to leave Osh for fear of reprisals, with some of them heading for the border with Uzbekistan, said HRW.

Gas had been shut off in the city to prevent fires, and some neighborhoods were without electricity, the statement added.

Rights campaigner Dzhamilya Kaparova described to AFP how armoured personnel carriers were patrolling the city, as soldiers told people to go home ahead of the curfew.

Brawls broke out overnight Thursday between ethnic Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbek groups in Osh, witnesses said.

The city was once the stronghold of former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who was overthrown in April.

Rioters set buildings and cars alight and smashed shop windows across the city, as groups of men battled in the streets with guns and improvised weapons.

Since last April’s uprising, which ousted Bakiyev and left 87 people dead, foreign leaders have warned of the danger of civil war in this strategically important country.

On Friday, the leaders of Russia and China called for calm as the unrest topped talks at a regional security summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in neighbouring Uzbekistan.

“We sincerely hope that this phase of internal turmoil is overcome as soon as possible,” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said at the meeting.

“China and other neighbours will continue to offer Kyrgyzstan all possible help,” Chinese President Hu Jintao said through a Russian translator, calling for “a swift stabilisation of the situation.”

The United States, which has an air base outside the capital Bishkek seen as vital to coalition military operations in Afghanistan, also appealed for calm.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters: “We are concerned about reports of loss of life and injuries” in the clashes in Osh.

The US base at Manas is a key hub for US air refueling tankers and the giant transport planes that ferry US troops and supplies to and from Afghanistan.NATO has increasingly relied on the base as 30,000 additional US forces deploy to Afghanistan.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon expressed deep concern about the renewed ethnic clashes and said his special representative, Miroslav Jenca, who was in Osh Sunday, would press on with his efforts to ensure peace and stability.

- AFP