UN seeks humanitarian aid for Kyrgyzstan

PanARMENIAN.Net - The United Nations launched an appeal to collect over $71 million in aid for violence-hit Kyrgyzstan, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said.

"At this very moment OCHA is launching a $71 million flash appeal for Kyrgyzstan," Ban said. Violent clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek groups in southern Kyrgyzstan broke out in the city of Osh on June 11 and then spread to the neighboring Jalalabad region, leaving nearly 200 dead and more than 2,000 injured according to official figures. Kyrgyz leaders admit that the real death toll could be 10 times higher.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) said in a statement that it hoped to collect $71.15 million to help 1.1 million people affected by the deadly clashes.

"I therefore urge all donors and supporters to ensure that this flash appeal for Kyrgyzstan receives a generous and rapid response," UN OCHA chief, John Holmes, was quoted as saying.

Ban said the UN will also announce a similar appeal next week to help neighboring Uzbekistan, where some 100,000 ethnic Uzbeks fled due to ethnic violence. According to the World Health Organization's statistics, clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan left up to one million people affected.

"Tens of thousands more are reportedly waiting to cross the border [with Uzbekistan]," he said. The UN Secretary General also said that humanitarian aid to injured, refugees and displaced people remained "a priority" for the UN.

He said that he has been keeping contact with Kyrgyz interim leader Roza Otunbayeva and Uzbek President Islam Karimov to "explore options for restoring order, preventing further loss of life and coordinating humanitarian assistance."

Ban also said that he immediately ordered to send 200 metric tons of food to Uzbekistan after Karimov had warned him that the country was unable to provide refugees with accommodation and food for more than four days.

Earlier Kyrgyzstan's interim government asked Russia for peacekeeping assistance, but Russia said the situation did not suppose that Russia's armed forces could be used in the republic as "it is an internal conflict." Russia sent humanitarian aid and helped take out those injured, RIA Novosti reported.