Osh, Kyrgyzstan (AHN) – Kyrgyzstan honored the nearly 2,000 who died in recent ethnic clashes with a nationwide minute of silence Friday.
Interim President Rosa Otunbayeva, speaking in the devastated southern city of Osh, said that the country’s second largest city must be rebuilt. It was her first visit to the region more than a week after the violence began.
Osh was ground zero for intense fighting between Kyrgyzs and Uzbeks.
Although official estimates of only 200 dead have been given, the cultural norms of the region dictate that the dead be buried immediately, leaving officials to say the number may need to be increased by a multiple of 10.
“There were many deaths in the villages and, according to our traditions, they are buried immediately, no later than sundown,” said Otunbayeva.
Although there were no new reports of fighting on Friday, the refugee situation sparked by the recent violence is still ongoing. Uzbekistan has closed its borders indefinitely, saying it cannot absorb any more refugees. That has not stopped tens of thousands of members of the Uzbek minority in their attempts to flee into Uzbekistan.
The United Nations said Thursday that 400,000 people have been driven from their homes by ethnic clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan. Because of the violence, the agency admitted that it was having a difficult time getting aid to much needed areas.
With conditions getting better and violence easing, more residents in the affected regions are feeling safe enough to leave of their homes. However witnesses have reported sporadic gunfire as troops patrolled the streets. Even humanitarian aid workers are targets; an unidentified gunmen shot at aid workers attempting to distribute food.
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