Kyrgyzstan Violence Threatens Region
Sporadic gunfire continued overnight and fresh fires raged in the south, in violence the Health Ministry said has killed at least 117 people. Officials say the death toll could be considerably higher, as the current count includes only the dead at hospitals and morgues.
Kyrgyzstan's government, for the first time since the country declared independence in 1991, on Sunday appealed to Russia for help in restoring order. The Kremlin responded by saying it was sending 300 paratroopers—but only to protect its own military base near Bishkek, far from the fighting in the country's south. Russia otherwise appears wary of being drawn into the Kyrgyz conflict.
Kyrgyzstan's own security forces have failed to contain a rising tide of ethnic violence in the south. Around 75,000 people have now fled fighting into neighboring Uzbekistan, Russia's official news agency said, citing the Uzbek government.
Ethnic clashes—mainly of Kyrgyz attacking Uzbek minorities—have also spread through Kyrgyzstan's second-largest province, Jalal-Abad, government officials said. Crowds on Sunday setting fire to Uzbek homes and businesses, according to local news reports. The Associated Press said armed Kyrgyz amassed at the city's central square Monday, and planned to travel to the nearby Uzbek settlement of Suzak in search of an Uzbek community leader they blame for starting the trouble.
The ferocity of the fighting heightens fears of wider havoc in Central Asia, whose hitherto peaceful former Soviet republics have been a base for resupply of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan. The State Department Sunday called for a quick restoration of peace and order, and endorsed efforts by the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to find a solution.