Kazakhstan that currently holds the rotating chairmanship in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will carry out the international conference to collect financial aid for violence-hit Kyrgyzstan, Kazakh Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.
Violent clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek groups in southern Kyrgyzstan broke out in the city of Osh on June 11 and then spread to the neighboring Jalalabad region, leaving nearly 200 dead and more than 2,000 injured according to official figures. Kyrgyz leaders admit that the real death toll could be 10 times higher.
According to the ministry, the decision over the conference was made after the telephone conversation between Kazakh Foreign Minister, Kanat Saudabayev and Kyrgyz President Rosa Otunbayeva.
Saudabayev and Otunbayeva decided that both countries in cooperation with international organizations should continue to work on the program over the economic rehabilitation of Kyrgyzstan and the restoration of destroyed cities of Osh and Jalalabad.
Earlier the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) said in a statement that it hoped to collect $71.15 million to help those affected by the deadly clashes in the ex-Soviet Asian Republics.
The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon said the UN would announce an appeal to help neighboring Uzbekistan, where some 100,000 ethnic Uzbeks fled due to ethnic violence.
According to the World Health Organization's statistics, clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan left up to one million people affected.
ASTANA, July 10 (RIA Novosti)
