Ethnic riots rock Kyrgyzstan

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

A state of emergency was declared in the Central Asian nation that hosts a key US transit base for the war in Afghanistan.

The rioting in Osh, the second-largest city, was the worst violence since former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was toppled in April and fled the country.

The intensity of the conflict, which pits ethnic Kyrgyz against minority Uzbeks, appears to have taken the country by surprise and has thrown the fragile interim government’s prospects for survival into doubt.

Quelling the violence will prove a decisive test of the government’s ability to control the country, hold a June 27 vote on a new constitution and go ahead with new parliamentary elections scheduled for October.

Dozens of buildings across Osh were ablaze. Gangs of men attacked shops and set cars alight.

The interim government declared a state of emergency and sent armoured vehicles, troops and helicopters to the area. Soldiers were posted at routes into the city but fighting still continued and a curfew was imposed.

Ikram Abdumalitov, who lives in Osh, said around 1,000 young and armed Kyrgyz men were marching toward Uzbek neighbourhoods eastern Osh.

“The Uzbeks are in turn chopping down trees and blocking the road to their neighbourhood,” he said.

Armed men were arriving from nearby villages to join the fight, another man said.

“I have just driven through the city and the streets are filled with young men brandishing sticks, armour and weapons,” said Bakyt Omorkulov, a member of the Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society, a non-governmental group.

He said Uzbek areas were especially hard hit by the violence.

Many of the injured were treated for stab and gunshot wounds and dozens were reported in serious condition.

A doctor at a hospital in Osh said the final death toll could climb sharply as many Uzbeks were too afraid to seek treatment.

“All the beds in this hospital are full, but 90% of the people being treated are Kyrgyz, because Uzbeks are afraid of the Kyrgyz victims’ relatives, who are in an extremely aggressive frame of mind,” the doctor said.

Smaller-scale ethnic violence also broke out in the capital, Bishkek, where a mob of Kyrgyz men attacked and robbed ethnic Uzbeks at a popular bazaar.

In an emotional televised address, interim President Roza Otunbayeva called for a return to calm.

“I would like to appeal in particular to the women of Kyrgyzstan. Dear sisters, find the right words for your sons, husbands and brothers. In the current situation, it is unacceptable to indulge in feelings of revenge and anger,” she said.

At a security summit in neighbouring Uzbekistan, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev both expressed concern over fighting and promised to help Kyrgyzstan, a former Soviet republic of five million people, restore order.

Bakiyev is believed to be in exile in Belarus, but interim authorities accuse his supporters of trying to foment unrest to undermine their control and derail the upcoming referendum and parliamentary election.

Kyrgyzstan hosts the Manas US military air base in Bishkek, a crucial support centre supplying forces fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. Bakiyev’s government vowed to close the base last year, but later agreed to let US forces stay after raising the rent.

In recent weeks operations at the Manas base have been hindered by a dispute over the interim government’s decision to tax fuel sold to the base.