Kyrgyzstan’s interim president warned today that up to 2,000 people may have died in ethnic clashes as she made her first visit to a riot-hit town since the violence broke out.

An estimated 400,000 people – nearly one-twelfth the population – fled their homes to escape Kyrgyzstan’s ethnic violence, the UN said as throngs of refugees huddled in grim camps along the Uzbekistan border without adequate food or water.