The Northern Distribution Network (NDN), a Europe-to-Asia resupply route for US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, was promoted by its architects as an economic development vehicle that could promote cohesion among Central Asian states. Reality is proving vastly more problematic than American war planners anticipated, however.
Not only is southern Kyrgyzstan experiencing a refugee crisis, the region is facing a humanitarian disaster brought on by deepening shortages of food and medical supplies.
An emergency meeting of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) ended on June 14 without a clear decision on whether to endorse the deployment of Russian troops in an attempt to restore order to southern Kyrgyzstan.
Kyrgyzstan's provisional government is partially mobilizing its armed forces, raising the possibility of the military's attempted intervention in civil violence that has devastated southern regions of the Central Asian nation. Some experts are interpreting the move as a sign of desperation.
Interethnic clashes spread in southern Kyrgyzstan on June 12, as the provisional government struggled to stop the violence and Russia expressed reluctance to quickly intervene.
In a move that may have lasting political implications for Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan's provisional government has appealed to Russia to deploy troops to help restore order in the southern city of Osh.
At least 62 people have died in interethnic violence in and around Osh. Thousands of ethnic Uzbeks reportedly have fled the area and were seeking to cross the border into neighboring Uzbekistan.
Clashes between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s southern capital, flared for a second straight night on June 11. Government security forces appear undermanned and ill equipped to contain the violence, which has left at least 45 dead and hundreds injured.
As it strives to keep a lid on inter-ethnic tension in southern Kyrgyzstan, the country’s provisional government is confronting a lose-lose proposition.
Former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev fled into exile in Belarus last month in the aftermath of a violent uprising that unseated his regime and saw an interim leadership installed.
Clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan on May 14 left at least one person dead and 63 wounded. The political violence came as the provisional government in Bishkek reasserted its authority in the South less than 24 hours after supporters of former president Kurmanbek Bakiyev seized government buildings in three regional capitals.
