OSH, Kyrgyzstan (Reuters) – Kyrgyzstan granted shoot-to-kill powers to its security forces and appealed for Russia’s help yesterday to stop ethnic fighting that has killed at least 77 and left parts of two major cities in flames.
The interim government of the former Soviet republic, host to US and Russian military bases, decided at a late-night meeting to partially mobilise army reserves to combat the worst violence since the president was toppled in April.
It authorised security forces to shoot to kill in the southern regions of Osh and Jalalabad, where armed gangs have been burning down the homes and businesses of ethnic Uzbeks, ignoring curfews.
Lethal force was permitted in areas where a state of emergency has been declared in order to defend civilians, in self-defence and in case of mass or armed attacks, the government said in a decree.
“We need the entry of outside armed forces to calm the situation down,” interim government leader Roza Otunbayeva told reporters earlier. “We have appealed to Russia for help and I have already signed such a letter for President Dmitry Medvedev.”
But Russia said now was not the time to intervene. “It is an internal conflict and for now Russia does not see the conditions for taking part in its resolution,” Natalya Timakova, Medvedev’s spokeswoman, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
Kyrgyzstan, a poor former Soviet Central Asian state of 5.3 million people, declared a state of emergency in Osh and several rural districts early on Friday after rival ethnic gangs fought each other with guns, iron bars and petrol bombs. Renewed turmoil in Kyrgyzstan will fuel concern in Russia, the United States and neighbour China. Washington uses an air base at Manas in the north of the country, about 300 km (190 miles) from Osh, to supply its forces in Afghanistan.
Gas was shut off to Osh, scene of gunfire on Friday and yesterday, and some neighbourhoods had no electricity.
“Everywhere is burning: Uzbek homes, restaurants and cafes. The whole town is covered in smoke,” said local human rights worker Dilmurad Ishanov, an ethnic Uzbek.
“We don’t need the Kyrgyz authorities. We need Russia. We need troops. We need help.”
Violence and curfews extended to the Jalalabad region yesterday, where violence broke out at an Uzbek university.
The Kyrgyz Health Ministry said at least 77 people had been killed — six of them in Jalalabad — and over 1,000 wounded in the violence in the southerly power base of former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, deposed by a popular revolt.
Otunbayeva said the eventual toll was likely to be greater.
