The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is sending a 52-person police presence to southern Kyrgyzstan known as the Police Advisory Group, but the group is still mustering and will not deploy until September.
The Ferghana Valley, the fertile heartland of Central Asia, looks like paradise at this time of year. Fat-tailed sheep graze on the slopes, green after the winter snowmelt. Boys on donkeys chivvy cattle alongside blossoming fruit trees, and the urban bazaars have their usual bustling air.
