Police in southern Kyrgyzstan detained late on Wednesday Ahmad Bakiyev, the brother of the ousted president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, an interim government spokesperson told RIA Novosti.
"Police arrested Ahmad Bakiyev late on Wednesday in Jalalabad. He was under arrest warrant on suspicion of instigating the recent interethnic clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and minority Uzbeks in the south of Kyrgyzstan," the official said.
Violent clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan broke out in the city of Osh on June 11 and then spread to the neighboring Jalalabad region. Unofficial estimates put the death toll at about 2,000 people, while half a million may have been made homeless by the violent pogroms, which saw thousands of homes burned.
Ahmad Bakiyev went missing in April amid violent anti-government protests in the ex-Soviet republic, which forced Kurmanbek Bakiyev to leave the country and settle with some members of his family in exile in Belarus.
Kyrgyzstan's interim government has repeatedly requested the extradition of the former president but so far has met with strong opposition from the Belarusian authorities.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said he took Bakiyev under his "personal" protection.
Meanwhile, Kyrgyz police continue a domestic hunt for the members of Bakiyev's clan, whose stronghold was in the south of the country.
BISHKEK, July 22 (RIA Novosti)
