Situation in Kyrgyz city Jalal-Abad aggravates.

BISHKEK, June 13 (Itar-Tass) - The situation in the regional centre of
Kyrgyzstan - Jalal-Abad city where clashes between ethnic Uzbeks and
Kyrgyz people started on Saturday has sharply deteriorated, eyewitnesses
of the events told Itar-Tass by telephone on Sunday.
According to them, large crowds of people were gathering in the city
hippodrome and in the area of Peoples' Friendship University in the
morning. Shooting is periodically heard. Local residents have been
building barricades and uniting in order to protect their districts from
attacks. The public transport system is not working, communication between
districts has been practically fully interrupted due to the barriers. Most
of the shops and markets are closed, which causes food shortages.
"Rumours have been spread that a crowd has seized weapons in a
district police department of the Jalal-Abad region and went towards Osh,"
the city dwellers said. There is no electricity in this regional centre
and pogroms of trade centres have started there. Cloud of smoke have been
seen over certain districts. The local authorities have claimed that the
shots are fired by fighters of special task force units that are trying to
bring the crowd to reason by making shots in the air. "There are rumours
circulated among the population that aggressive crowds of people were
approaching Jalal-Abad from nearby districts," according to eyewitnesses.
Meanwhile, the situation in Osh where interethnic clashes started on
the night to June 11, has relatively stabilised. "There is almost no
firing heard, the city streets are empty, some districts, residential
neighbourhoods have burnt down," the city residents say. "The Uzbek
population has barricaded itself in the compact residence places," the
added. There is still no electricity and natural gas supply in a number of
districts of Osh, trade outlets and public transport are not working, the
evacuation of students of local higher learning institutions to safe
places continues. Block posts at the city's entries and exits are set up
which are checking all the passing cars. At the same time Osh residents
have admitted that the military and police have at least partially taken
the situation in the city under control.
For the settlement of the interethnic conflict the republic's
authorities announced a state of emergency and imposed a curfew in Osh,
Jalal-Abad and the adjoining regions. Additional forces of the Defence
Ministry, Interior Ministry, interior troops, as well as the vigilante
teams formed from volunteers are being dispatched to the zone of the
clashes. The authorities promise to give them, weapons for the period of
the establishment of order in the conflict zone.
The Kyrgyz interim government has officially allowed the military,
policemen and vigilantes to apply combat weapons in emergency situations.
Partial mobilisation of reservists was announced in the republic on
Sunday, the Defence Ministry has urged the persons under 50 subject to
recall to arrive to the registration places before 15:00, local time
(13:00 MSK).
On Saturday, President of the transitional period of Kyrgyzstan Roza
Otunbayeva admitted that the republic cannot on its own settle the
situation in the Osh and Jalal-Abad regions, therefore she turned to
Russia with a request to send there a peacekeeping contingent. According
to Otunbayeva, the organisers of the clashes are the brothers and
entourage of the republic's former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev who are
trying to regain power at any cost.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's spokeswoman, Natalya Timakova,
said in a reply to the Kyrgyz president's letter "It is an internal
conflict and for now Russia does not see the conditions for taking part in
its resolution." The clashes caused a shortage of food and other essential
commodities and more than 650 people were hurt as on 12 June, 2010.
Russian government, however, said it would be sending humanitarian aid to
the troubled nation.
-0-ezh/gor