OSCE Withdraws Monitors from Kyrgyzstan; Some Uzbek Refugees Returning
The independent online Central Asian news service ferghana.ru has reported that the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has withdrawn 300 short-term observers who had been deployed last month to observe conditions for the June 27 constitutional referendum in Kyrgyzstan. The observers were recruited and placed by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).
Although no statement has appeared at the OSCE Press Centre or from the chair-in-office Kazakh Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev, in a statement on its website, ODIHR said that while originally OSCE deployed a referendum observation mission:
Due to the current security situation, however, ODIHR decided on 18 June not to deploy short-term observers as part of its ongoing monitoring of the referendum. The mission will continue its observation of the process as a limited referendum observation mission (LROM) with a core team based in Bishkek and long-term observers deployed to several regions.
The removal of the observers may constitute a tacit signal from OSCE that conditions were inadequate for conducting a free and fair referendum; in other conflict-ridden or oppressive country situations ODIHR has used the method of withholding full-fledged observers and sending a small, limited observation term to avoid validating unfair pre-election conditions.
ODIHR said a statement of preliminary findings and conclusions would be issued on June 28, a day after the referendum. A comprehensive final report on the mission's findings is planned for approximately eight weeks later.
OSCE convened a workshop in Bishkek today for journalists interested in covering the referendum.
24.kg reported that Galiya Alymbekova of the Central Electoral Commission of Kyrgyzstan said 36 permanent OSCE represenatives would remain in Kyrgyzstan, and that 100 international observers were accredited.
According to the Kyrgyz interrim government, 35,500 ethnic Uzbek refugees have returned to Kyrgyzstan. The Ministry of Health says 251 people have been killed, and 2,192 have sought medical assistance. Yet ferghana.ru reports that Uzbeks in Osh alone say they have buried more than 1,000 people, and Roza Otunbayeva, head of the interrim government, says there could be a many as 2,000 dead, as according to local custom, the dead are buried quickly before sundown. While Uzbekistan continues to give the figure of 75,000 refugees from Kyrgyzstan, it has official requested international assistance for 100,000 refugees.
Reports from Uzbekistan indicate that the Uzbek authorities are urging refugees to return, and in some areas do not have enough supplies for them. They are providing transportation to the border, but it is not know if they are using force.
The OSCE High Commissioner for Nationalities Knut Vollaebek appealed to OSCE member states to assist Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan with the crisis, commended Uzbekistan for hosting refugees, and called for an impartial investigation into the violence, urging the interim government to support efforts to document the events.
In order to move forward and re-establish trust between the inhabitants of Kyrgyzstan, there has to be a thorough investigation into what has been happening in the south of the country. This will require an independent, international Commission.
Meanwhile, it is important to have free and open reporting and documentation of the violence. I would therefore strongly urge the Kyrgyz authorities to refrain from laying any hindrance in the way for journalists and members of civil society who are engaged in documenting the ongoing perpetrations.
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