Kyrgyzstan’s authorities focus on getting ethnic Uzbeks to polls after bloody rampages

Kyrgyz authorities try to get Uzbeks to vote

OSH, Kyrgyzstan — Kyrgyzstan’s interim authorities are urging ethnic Uzbeks to vote in this weekend’s constitutional referendum, even though many of them fled their homes in the face of deadly attacks by Kyrgyz mobs.

Kyrgyz officials pledged on Wednesday to work quickly to restore identification papers for the Uzbeks, many of whom lost them in houses torched by ethnic Kyrgyz mobs.

The recent ethnic violence killed as many as 2,000 people and forced half of the region’s 800,000 Uzbeks to flee for their lives.

Kyrgyzstan’s interim government has blamed the violence on supporters of former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev seeking to derail Sunday’s referendum.

The government needs the vote to secure its grip to power and prepare for October’s parliamentary election.