KYRGYZSTAN/FILE: Kyrgyzstan President Almazbek Atambayev unveils peace monument over two years after ethnic violence erupted in southern Kyrgyzstan between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek communities

Record ID: 187152

  • Title: KYRGYZSTAN/FILE: Kyrgyzstan President Almazbek Atambayev unveils peace monument over two years after ethnic violence erupted in southern Kyrgyzstan between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek communities
  • Date: 11th June 2012
  • Summary: OSH, KYRGYZSTAN (FILE) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) YOUNG MEN DESTROYING CAR IN STREET DURING ETHNIC VIOLENCE VARIOUS OF BURNING HOUSES DURING ETHNIC VIOLENCE
  • Embargoed: 26th June 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kyrgyzstan
  • Country: Kyrgyzstan
  • Topics: Conflict,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA2M76RIPBYD0GYHEVUV2156CYK
  • Story Text: A new peace monument was unveiled in Osh, Kyrgyzstan on Sunday (June 10) over two years after violence between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek communities left at least 500 people dead.
    Kyrgyzstan's president Almazbek Atambayev, who in December became the first Kyrgyz leader to assume the presidency without a revolution, attended a ceremony in Osh on Sunday (June 10) to unveil the monument - a bell that has been named the 'Peace Bell'.
    Kyrgyzstan's impoverished south, home to the second-biggest city of Osh, is prone to ethnic violence and drug-related crime, a risk to stability in the only former Soviet state to host both U.S. and Russian military air bases.
    Atambayev has sought to bridge the divide with southern regions, where people are traditionally wary of central government in Bishkek.
    On Sunday the president, together with other city and government officials and residents, laid flowers at the monument, before giving a speech.
    "Why, in the course of the last 50 years, has the fire of three inter-ethnic conflicts covered the south of Kyrgyzstan? Because the underlying causes have not been addressed. The rift between Kyrgyz and Uzbek has become even more obvious. We must learn from this and facilitate the coming together of ethnic communities, not the division of Kyrgyz and Uzbeks. We should unite them on the basis of Kyrgyzstan citizenship. This is the only way we can avoid another tragedy. If resistance continues, we won't avoid new conflict. Everyone must admit this bitter truth," Atambayev said.
    Osh was the centre of ethnic clashes between its Kyrgyz and Uzbek populations in June 2010, when nearly 500 people were killed and hundreds of thousands fled their homes.
    Osh resident and ethnic Kyrgyz, Chinara Mamytbekova lost a son during the violence in June 2010.
    "No one - not us, not other people - wanted this. Only those who wanted to destroy Kyrgyzstan needed this - those who didn't like the people's unity and friendship. You can't blame the two ethnic groups - you need to forget grievances and work to build a peaceful future," Mamytbekova told Reuters.
    Another Osh resident - Madina Kamilova, who also lost a son in the June 2010 violence, is an ethnic Uzbek.
    "In two years there have been good and bad days. Now, praise Allah, we live well. The scandals have stopped - for now we're living in peace. Especially here we're friendly. Maybe something bad is happening somewhere else, but not here," Kamilova told Reuters.
    Kyrgyzstan, a mainly Muslim Central Asian nation of 5.3 million people, hosts U.S. and Russian military air bases and lies on a drug trafficking route out of Afghanistan.
    Radical Islam, stoked by widespread poverty, has also fuelled instability in the region.
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