Handful of Uzbek refugees return to Osh as ethnic violence subsides in riot-hit Kyrgyzstan

Uzbek refugees trickle back amid relative calm

OSH, Kyrgyzstan — A handful of Uzbek refugees displaced by days of ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan are returning to their wrecked homes in the southern city of Osh, where a semblance of normality is slowly setting in.

Hundreds of thousands of Uzbeks fled their homes seeking refuge in neighboring Uzbekistan after deadly rampages by mobs of ethnic Kyrgyz.

The rioting has killed hundreds and undermined attempts to bring stability in the wake of a bloody uprising in April that deposed President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

Authorities accuse Bakiyev of stoking the conflicts from exile to thwart a June 27 referendum that would give the interim government more legitimacy.

Thousands of Uzbeks remain fearful of returning from border areas and are awaiting their chance to enter camps on the Uzbek side.