Finnish MP to head probe of deadly ethnic clashes in Kyrgyzstan
10:20 16/07/2010 BISHKEK, July 16 (RIA Novosti) - Kyrgyzstan has accepted European proposals for an international investigation into interethnic violence that killed hundreds in the south of the country last month and named a Finnish parliamentarian to lead the probe, the government said on Friday.
Violent clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan broke out in the city of Osh on June 11 and then spread to the neighboring Jalalabad region. Unofficial estimates put the death toll at about 2,000 people, while half a million may have been made homeless by the violent pogroms, which saw thousands of homes burned.
"After the tragic events that occurred, the foreign ministries of the Nordic countries initiated the creation of an independent international commission to investigate the causes of the tragic events that took place in the Osh and Jalalabad regions," a Kyrgyz government spokesman said.
He added that President Roza Otunbayeva had taken into account "the goodwill of the European countries" and accepted the proposal that the commission be headed by Finnish MP Kimmo Kiljunen, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's special envoy for Central Asia.
Otunbayeva noted the need for an international commission to work with the national commission to study thoroughly the causes and consequences of the violence and draw conclusions on what should be done to resolve the problems, the spokesman said.
Rights activists in southern Kyrgyzstan say Uzbek residents have been victims of police abuses as part of investigations into the earlier violence. There were also reports of security forces involvement in the June violence.
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