UN demands a referendum in Kyrgyzstan

The violence in Kyrgyzstan has forced large numbers of refugees into neighboring Uzbekstan. On Tuesday, the United Nations demanded, Kyrgyzstan guarantee a key constitutional referendum, later this month, in order to ease the turmoil. Meanwhile, the son of former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was arrested in Britain on tax evasion.

Clashes continued in and around Osh on Tuesday, in the southern part of the country.

Uzbeks have mostly backed the interim government, which took over when former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted in an April uprising, while many Kyrgyz in the south supported him.

Unrest has left the country's second largest city, Osh, in ruins and sent a stampede of Uzbek families fleeing towards the border to take refuge in Uzbekistan.

The United Nations urged the country not to allow deadly unrest to derail a key constitutional referendum and parliamentary elections.

Miroslav Jenca, UN representative, said, "The UN is working with the Central Elections Committee, showing support for the preparations for the referendum and election. It is not easy now to deliver aid because of concerns over safety. We are working on this important factor with the government."

Yet the scale of the damage in the south is so great it's hard to see how a legitimate vote could be held in less than two weeks.

Janibek Karibjanov, OSCE Special Envoy to Kyrgyzstan, said, "There has been great bloodshed, a lot of victims and this is obviously a tragedy. The task ahead of us is to first stop the bloodshed and violence."

Meanwhile, the interim government announced former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev's youngest son, Maxim was arrested in Britain. Local residents reacted positively to the news.

British prosecutors alleged that Maxim Bakiyev's companies had avoided almost 80 million US dollars in taxes on aviation fuel sold to suppliers of the US air base near Bishkek.

Source : english.cntv.cn