Bishkek – Some 100,000 minority Uzbeks fleeing a purge by mobs of Kygryz massed at the border Monday, an Uzbek leader said, as the deadliest ethnic violence to hit this Central Asian nation in decades left entire blocks of a major city burned to the ground.
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As the southern city of Osh smoldered for a fourth day Monday, the official death toll of 117 killed and 1,500 injured from the clashes that began Thursday appeared way too low.
An Uzbek community leader claimed at least 200 Uzbeks alone had already been buried, and the International Committee of the Red Cross has said its delegates saw about 100 bodies being buried in just one cemetery.
The United States, Russia and the United Nations worked on humanitarian aid airlifts while neighboring Uzbekistan hastily set up refugee camps to handle the flood of hungry, frightened refugees. Most of the refugees were women, children and the elderly, and Uzbekistan said some had gunshot wounds from their harrowing escape.
Jallahitdin Jalilatdinov, who heads the Uzbek National Center, told The Associated Press on Monday that at least 100,000 Uzbeks had fled for the border and were awaiting entry into Uzbekistan, while 80,000 had already crossed.
An Associated Press reporter saw at least hundreds of Uzbek refugees stuck in no-man’s-land between the boundaries of the two nations at a border crossing near Jalal-Abad.
Kyrgyzstan’s interim government, which took over after former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted by a mass revolt in April, has been unable to stop the violence and accused Bakiyev’s family of instigating it to stop a June 27 vote. Uzbeks have backed the interim government, while many Kyrgyz in the south have supported the toppled president.
The government said Monday it had arrested a well-known politician suspected of stoking the violence, but gave no further details.
Interim President Roza Otunbayeva’s government had hoped to seal its democratic credentials with a referendum to approve a new constitution on June 27, but the likelihood of that vote taking place now looks slim.
From his self-imposed exile in Belarus, Bakiyev denied any role in the violence.
New fires raged Monday across Osh — the country’s second-largest city — which is only 3 miles from the border with Uzbekistan. Food and water were scarce as armed looters smashed stores, stealing everything from televisions to food. Cars stolen from ethnic Uzbeks raced around the city, most crowded with young Kyrgyz wielding sharpened sticks, axes and metal rods.
In the mainly Uzbek district of Aravanskoe, an area formerly brimming with shops and restaurants, entire streets have been burned to the ground. In one still smoldering building, an Associated Press photographer saw the charred bodies of three people burned to death.
No police or troops were seen on the streets, though the interim government said some of the improvised checkpoints dotted around the city of 250,000 were theirs.
Violence spread to villages and towns around Osh, local residents said.
Mukaddas Jamolova, a 54-year old housewife from Kara-Su, near Osh, said she saw looters burn down many houses of ethnic Uzbeks. She said her house was not burned down, but the family can’t flee to Uzbekistan as they fear armed attackers.
“We can’t go anywhere, we have a curfew, nobody’s letting us out,” Jamolova told The Associated Press on the phone.
In another city beset by violence, Jalal-Abad, about 25 miles from Osh, armed Kyrgyz amassed at the central square to hunt down an Uzbek community leader in the nearby village of Suzak who they blame for starting the trouble.
As the clashes continued, desperately needed aid began trickling into the south. Several planes arrived at Osh airport with tons of urgently needed medical supplies from the World Health Organization. Trucks carried the supplies into the city center, protected by a tank and an armored personnel carrier.
The U.S. had a shipment of tens, cots and medical supplies ready to fly to Osh from its Manas air base in the capital of Bishkek, the U.S. Embassy said.
The U.S. and Russia both have military bases in northern Kyrgyzstan, away from the rioting. Russia sent in an extra battalion to protect its air base. The U.S. Manas air base is a crucial supply hub for the coalition fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Uzbeks make up 15 percent of Kygryzstan’s 5 million people, but in the south their numbers rival ethnic Kyrgyz. The fertile Ferghana Valley where Osh and Jalal-Abad are located once belonged to a single feudal lord, but it was split by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin among Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, rekindling old rivalries.
In 1990, hundreds were killed in a land dispute between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in Osh, and only quick deployment of Soviet troops quelled the fighting. Russia over the weekend refused a request by the interim government to send troops into Kyrgyzstan, so the government began a partial mobilization of military reservists up to 50 years old.
“No one is rushing to help us, so we need to establish order ourselves,” said Talaaibek Adibayev, a 39-year-old army veteran who showed up at Bishkek’s military conscription office.
No one cares what’s going on there no UN involved no international investigation no one bashing everything is just fine
Where is all the peace pro arab lovers why they not out marching the streets of the world. A bunch of low life
Egad! Where is the UN? We must have an international commission of inquiry! Where is Judge Goldstone? Send a humanitarian aid flotilla! Help!
Maybe they were “humanitarian activists” when its not israel NO ONE CARES that 100,000 people flee their homes Hundreds dead and wounded, only when its its “poor hamas activists” if not ..Not a peep from all the “concerned nations”
Hmmm,
I’ll make a bet that you won’t find a whole bunch of protesters going there to help the poor Uzbek minority from under the iron fist of the Kyrgyz, or the other way around, depending on who’s story you listen to.
That type of thing would only happen in Israel. Zeystdich vi azoi anti-semitish iz dei velt?
I feel so terrible about what’s happening there though, it really is a shame. Two separate racial groups who look basically alike fighting over some land that would be better used to do something that could benefit them both equally.
Oy Heilige’ Beshefer! Please help your nation bring enlightenment to all corners of the world so that everyone can work toward one goal of peace, love and harmony.
Kygryz is such a weird name. I bet 99% of people (me included) never heard of this country before it become a news story. How do you even pronounce it without breaking your teeth?
No aid groups going to help?????
where is Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prime minister of Turkey?
he is so so worried about the plight of people!
1. You know that there are Moslems involved. So I thought it’s Moslems against Hindus or Christians. No, both sides are Moslems. So I figured Sunni against Shiite; nah, Sunni against Sunni. Go figure.
Wow! Muslims with no zionists to blame are fighting each other… Go figure. NK must be really confused trying to understand how this is possible.