Situation in Kyrgyzstan's Jalalabad region stabilizes - GSNB.

15/6 Tass 236

BISHKEK, June 15 (Itar-Tass) - The situation in Kyrgyzstan's Jalalabad
region has stabilized, the press office of the State National Security
Service (GSNB) said on Tuesday.
"The region observes curfew, no clashes or mass disturbances have been
reported," the GSNB said.
GSNB agents have been conducting a public awareness campaign due to
the spreading of provocative rumors in the areas. They are also taking
measures to apprehend the organizers of and participants in mass
disturbances.
There have been no large rallies in the region since Monday.
"At present, ethnic Uzbeks amassed in the areas of the Kasansaiskoye
water reservoir; the authorities are persuading them into returning to
their homes," the GSNB underlined.
Dozens of houses and public buildings burnt during the Osh riots.
According to the GSNB, fires and arsons destroyed 90 private households,
105 shops, 74 cafes and restaurants, 60 cars and 60 kiosks.
Robbers continue to attack trade outlets and private house of local
residents, a GSNB official said.
"More than 20,000 ethnic Uzbeks crossed into Uzbekistan during the
rots," he added.
According to the official reports, 171 people died in ethnic clashes
in Osh and the neighboring Jalalabad region. The confrontation began in
Osh on June 11, and then spilt over to the neighboring Jalalabad region.
In all, 60,000 Uzbeks have fled Kyrgyzstan. The Uzbek-Kyrgyz
confrontation is a long-standing conflict. Historically, Uzbeks were a
settled people who engaged in agriculture, while the Kyrgyz were nomads.
When the Soviet authorities began to press the latter into leading a
settled way of life, the Kyrgyz laid claims to cultivated lands. This
started clashes over limited land- and water resources.
The same problem led to an aggravation of the situation in the present
days.
Thousands of Kyrgyz - who worked in foreign countries - have returned
home in the past two years because of the financial crisis. But the
unemployment rate is high in the republic, and it is mostly Uzbeks who are
employed in trade, services and agriculture.
Also, many Kyrgyz youngsters from rural areas have been coming to
towns. Being unable to land jobs, they join criminal groups.
Kyrgyzstan is located in northeastern Central Asia. Its total area is
199,900 square kilometers. It borders Kazakhstan in the north, Uzbekistan
in the west, Tajikistan in southwest and China in southeast.
Kyrgyzstan has a population of 5.3 million people. The ethnic mix is
as follows: Kyrgyz - 67 percent, Russian - 10 percent (they mostly live in
towns) and Uzbeks account for 14 percent, mostly in the Osh region.
Villagers account for 65.1 percent of the population.
Kyrgyzstan includes the northern, eastern and southern rims of the
Fergana valley with foothills. Sixty percent of the valley is in the
terrorist of Uzbekistan, 25 percent in Tajikistan and 15 percent in
Kyrgyzstan. The Fergana Valley is one of the most densely populated
regions of Earth that post high population growth rates.
At present, population density there matches that of China's maritime
areas. At present, eight million people live in three regions of
Uzbekistan, more than two million in Osh, Jalalabad and Batkent regions of
Kyrgyzstan, and two million in Tajikistan's Sogdidi region.
The Valley is a complex region, with a load of problems of the three
Asian republics: poverty, paucity of land and water resources,
unemployment and ethnic controversy. The largest Uzbek-Kyrgyz conflict
flared up in June 1990 in the Osh region, and clamed 1,200 lives.
Unofficial reports said 10,000 people had been killed.
Religion occupies a prominent place in the region. The population
mostly professes Sunni Islam. In Kyrgyzstan, 75 percent of the population
profess Sunnism. Once, Osh was one of the spiritual centers of the Islamic
world.
Extremist and religious organization have stepped up their activities
in Kyrgyzstan recently. There are emissaries of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an
organization banned in Kyrgyzstan, operating in the republic. They have
thousands of followers in the Uzbek, Kyrgyz, and Tajik parts of the
Fergana Valley.
Experts believe the number of followers of religious extremists in the
republic has increased from 500 to 600 to 15,000 in the past twenty years.
Kyrgyzstan, located in the middle of the "Silk Way," is of interest to
economically developed countries which seek to enter the Central Asia
market. It also has an important signifcance in fighting extremism and
drug trafficking from Afghanistan, whose situation causes instability on
southern borders of the Commonwealth of Independent States, in the first
place in Central Asia.
The Fergana Valley is located on the way of drug trafficking routes
from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran to world markets.
The Kyrgyz part of the Valley is used as a place of cultivation and
production of drugs, too.
According to official statistics, 35 percent of people in Kyrgyzstan
(1.8 million) live below the poverty line. Of those, 345,000 were
recognized as very poor. But independent exports claim up to 80 percent of
the population live in poverty. The minimal monthly wage in the country is
nine dollars, an average wage is 300 dollars, and an average pension is
worth some 50 dollars. The lowest incomes are in the south of the republic.
-0-myz/gor