Kyrgyz Refugees Returning Home from Uzbekistan Camps
Gabe Joselow | Moscow 24 June 2010
Tens of thousands of refugees who fled the ethnic clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan are returning home in droves, as violence subsides. Camps in neigboring Uzbekistan are emptying out, according to Joe Lowry from the Red Cross, Red Crescent Federation.
Lowry said, in the past few days, the population of a camp in Uzbekistan 20 kilometers from the southern Kyrgyz city, Osh, has dwindled from 3,000 to about 580.
"It seems the natural instinct is to want to go home to where you're from and to see if your property is intact and to see how your family are... and so on," said Lowry. "And also, some areas are very quiet and didn't see much violence."
Lowry said refugees have gotten adequate supplies, food and medical care. Aid workers now are looking ahead, trying to address long-term needs.
"There are also questions about the families being separated. Mainly, its 90 percent women and children here. There are very very few young men. So there are also questions about what will happen to children long-term," said Lowry.
Some 400,000 people, mainly ethnic Uzbeks, fled violence that broke out in southern Kyrgyzstan, earlier this month. About 80,000 of them crossed the border into Uzbekistan.
U.S. officials have called for an independent probe into the causes of the violence. Kyrgyz officials say they have begun criminal investigations.
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