Uzbek refugees flee after slaughter

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.

Most of the Uzbek refugees were elderly people, women and children, and many had gunshot wounds, the Uzbek emergencies ministry said in a statement carried by Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.

It said refugee camps were being set up for them in several areas of Uzbekistan.

Fires set by rioters have destroyed most of Osh and food was scarce after widespread looting. Crowds of Kyrgyz men took control of most of Osh yesterday as the few Uzbeks left in the city of 250,000 barricaded themselves in their neighbourhoods.

Former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted in a uprising in April and fled the country. Uzbeks have backed Kyrgyzstan’s interim government, while many Kyrgyz in the south support the toppled president.

Interim President Roza Otunbayeva blamed Bakiyev’s family for instigating the unrest, saying it was aimed at derailing a June 27 constitutional referendum and new elections scheduled for October.

From his exile in Belarus, Bakiyev issued a statement denying any role in the violence.

The interim government has ordered troops to shoot rioters dead but even that has failed to stop the violence that has left more than 100 people dead and about 1,250 wounded since Thursday night. Doctors say even that toll is too low because wounded Uzbeks are too afraid of being attacked to go to hospitals.