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.

ETHNIC violence in southern Kyrgyzstan has displaced 400,000 people, the UN said yesterday, dramatically increasing the official estimate of a crisis that has left throngs of desperate, fearful refugees without enough food and water in grim camps along the Uzbek border.

Uzbek refugees displaced by ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan started trickling back to their wrecked homes today in the southern city of Osh, desperate for food and water that aid agencies have had trouble delivering to the thousands camped out on the border.

Kyrgyzstan’s weak military was trying to regain control of the city of Osh, a major transit point for Afghan heroin and the epicentre of ethnic violence that has driven much of the Uzbek population from the country’s poor, rural south.

RIOTING has killed several hundred people in the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan, the Red Cross said yesterday, as new reports strengthened suspicions that the violence was deliberately ignited to undermine the interim government.

Several hundred people have been killed in rioting in Kyrgyzstan, the Red Cross said today, as new reports strengthened suspicions that the violence was deliberately ignited to undermine the Central Asian nation’s interim government.

Germany has evacuated 89 westerners, including 31 Americans and 40 Europeans, from the violence-torn city of Osh in Kyrgyzstan.

UZBEKISTAN yesterday ordered its frontier closed to a mass exodus of refugees fleeing clashes between rival groups in Kyrgyzstan where government forces were accused of helping the slaughter of ethnic Uzbeks.

Mobs of rioters slaughtered Uzbeks and burned their homes and businesses in Kyrgyzstan’s worst ethnic violence in decades, sending more than 75,000 members of the ethnic minority fleeing the country.

KYRGYZ mobs burned Uzbek villages, slaughtered their residents and looted police stations yesterday in the worst ethnic rioting this Central Asian nation has seen in 20 years, sending more than 75,000 Uzbek refugees fleeing across the border into Uzbekistan.

Police and soldiers struggled to stop deadly ethnic clashes in Kyrgyzstan today as gangs of armed young Kyrgyz men marched on Uzbek neighbourhoods where houses were already burning.

Armed mobs torched entire districts in southern Kyrgyzstan today during ethnic clashes that left around 40 dead and over 500 wounded.

Kyrgyzstan’s restive south calmed down today after a failed attempt to take control by supporters of the nation’s deposed president in which one person died and dozens were wounded.

OFFICIALS in Kazakhstan yesterday said the deposed president of Kyrgyzstan has left their country, where he had sought refuge in the wake of the bloody uprising in his nation.

Officials in Kazakhstan today said the deposed president of Kyrgyzstan has left their country, where he had sought refuge in the wake of the bloody uprising in his nation.

Kyrgyzstan’s deposed president Kurmanbek Bakiyev quit the country for neighbouring Kazakhstan today.

Gunfire broke out as the deposed Kyrgyzstan president addressed a crowd of supporters today.

The head of Kyrgyzstan’s interim government said today talks with the its deposed president were possible, but prospects for a compromise were clouded by mutual distrust and threats to use force.

The ousted president of Kyrgyzstan today said he was willing to resign if his security was guaranteed.

KYRGYZSTAN’S ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev made his first public appearance yesterday since being toppled in a popular uprising, slamming his opponents and refusing to step down.

Thousands of grieving, angry mourners flooded the main square in the capital of Kyrgyzstan today to honour victims of the country‘s revolt – with many blaming the absent president for ordering security forces to fire on those protesting against his government.

Opposition leaders moved to consolidate their control over Kyrgyzstan after their victory in a bloody uprising, saying they would hold power for six months and assuring the US it can keep a strategic air base here – at least for now.

An opposition coalition in Kyrgyzstan said it formed an interim government that will rule the turbulent Central Asian nation for six months.

ANTI-GOVERNMENT unrest rocked the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan yesterday as thousands of protesters stormed the main government building, set fire to the prosecutor’s office and looted state TV headquarters.

Rioting mobs in Kyrgyzstan beat a government minister to death today following earlier clashes with police that left at least a dozen protesters dead.

The decision to close a key US air force base on the borders of Afghanistan is final, Kyrgyzstan said today.

KYRGYZSTAN’S government submitted a draft bill to parliament yesterday that would close a US base that is key to the American military campaign in Afghanistan.

Kyrgyzstan is observing an official day of mourning as rescuers search the rubble for victims and signs of life a day after an earthquake killed at least 74 people.

Kyrgyzstan’s government today rejected a move by opposition politicians to pass a new constitution, calling it an attempt to seize power illegally.

Tens of thousands of angry demonstrators rallied outside the Kyrgyz president’s headquarters today, demanding he resign in a dispute over proposed political reforms that would cut his powers.

Kyrgyzstan’s president Kurmanbek Bakiyev today told parliament he would delay the introduction of constitutional reforms demanded by the opposition, just as thousands of opposition protesters gathered in the capital of the ex-Soviet Central nation, Bishkek, to demand his resignation.

KYRGYZSTAN’S new president has said the Central Asian country will pursue an independent foreign policy, and will not be “a place for the fulfilment of someone else’s geopolitical interests”.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld won assurances from top government officials today that American forces face no near-term deadline for withdrawing from an air base near the Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek that they use to support combat and humanitarian aid in Afghanistan.

Kadyr Toktogulov Bishkek

More than 2,000 unarmed supporters of a presidential candidate who was denied registration in next month’s Kyrgyzstan election stormed the Kyrgyz government headquarters today.

Hundreds of people, some throwing stones, broke into Kyrgyzstan’s Supreme Court in the capital Bishkek today and evicted supporters of five losing parliamentary candidates who had occupied the building for more than a month.

Kyrgyzstan has forced scores of refugees who fled Uzbekistan after it exploded in unrest to return despite fears they could face cruel treatment, a Kyrgyz official said today, as other refugees vowed to go home voluntarily to demand their government’s removal.

About 150 Uzbek refugees trying to flee to neighbouring Kyrgyzstan after a violent crackdown on protesters in Uzbekistan have been turned back by Kyrgyz authorities, who also warned they could quickly deport others who had previously crossed the border, officials said today.

A Kyrgyzstan advisory council began drafting reforms to the Central Asian nation’s constitution today, aiming to curb presidential authority and grant parliament more power in the wake of last month’s dramatic revolt.

THE Kyrgyz election contenders Kurmanbek Bakiyev and Felix Kulov have agreed to divide the spoils of the upcoming presidential election in an attempt to unite the opposition and divert Kyrgyzstan from a north-south split.

KYRGYZSTAN’S overthrown President Askar Akayev revealed yesterday he is staying near Moscow and will not resign.

The upper house of Kyrgyzstan’s old parliament announced today that it will dissolve and end its struggle against a newly elected rival legislature, in a bid to bring stability after last week’s ouster of President Askar Akayev.

KYRGYZSTAN’S new authorities, struggling to end chaos after last week’s coup, yesterday appointed as the Central Asian country’s leader a key figure behind the overthrow of veteran President Askar Akayev.

President Askar Akayev, who fled the small former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan last week after protesters stormed his offices and brought down his government, is in talks with interim leaders seeking his resignation, Kyrgyzstan’s acting prosecutor-general said today.