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Many people need aid after Kyrgyz violence

Many people need aid after Kyrgyz violence Up to a million people may need aid after deadly ethnic violence erupted in southern Kyrgyzstan.

The country’s government has struggled to restore order following clashes between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz, around the ancient city of Osh, which killed about 200 people.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees, mainly women and children, are crammed into makeshift camps in the plains of the Ferghana valley, many running out of food and water.

Unicef spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume said the one million figure was an estimate to help agencies plan how much aid they need to prepare.

Kyrgyzstan’s interim leader Roza Otunbayeva has flown to the country’s south in a bid to calm tensions.

She said: “I came here to see, to speak with the people and hear first-hand what happened here. We will do everything to rebuild this city (Osh).”

Ahead of her trip, Ms Otunbayeva admitted the death toll may be 10 times higher than official figures.

She told the Russian daily Kommersant: “There were very many deaths in the countryside, and our customs dictate that we bury our dead right away, before sunset.”

This meant many bodies were buried before deaths could be registered with authorities, Ms Otunbayeva explained.

Victims of the unrest have claimed the violence was a brutal and orchestrated campaign by armed militias of ethnic Kyrgyz targeting their Uzbek neighbours.

But Ms Otunbayeva played down the scale of animosity between the groups that fuelled the clashes, saying: “We have always lived together and we always will live together.”

The riots were the worst ethnic clashes to hit the impoverished Central Asian state since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Uzbeks make up 14% of Kyrgyzstan’s population of 5.3 million.

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