Kyrgyz interim leader visits Osh, vows to restore city partially destroyed by ethnic violence
By APFriday, June 18, 2010
Kyrgyz interim leader in Osh, vows to restore city
OSH, Kyrgyzstan — Kyrgyzstan’s interim president is visiting the southern town of Osh and vowing to work for the return of refugees who fled deadly ethnic violence there by the hundreds of thousands.
On her first visit to the partially destroyed southern city since the unrest started a week ago, Roza Otumbayeva said “we have to give hope that we shall restore the city, return all the refugees and create all the conditions for that.”
She insisted good will between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks would end hostilities.
The U.N. estimates 400,000 people fled the country’s south after ethnic Kyrgyz killed hundreds — chiefly Uzbeks.
Officials say the violence was sparked deliberately by associates of Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the president toppled in April.
