Hospitals in Kyrgyzstan’s southern city of Osh are unable to feed the hundreds of people injured in continuing inter-ethnic clashes, the health ministry said on Saturday.
“All the markets and shops in Osh are closed and there is no way to even buy bread, “a ministry statement said, adding that ways of bringing food into the ravaged city were being explored.
At least 50 people have been killed and hundreds hospitalized since clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbek groups began on Thursday evening.
Reports from the city say at least one district has been entirely burnt to the ground and that refugees, mainly Uzbek women and children, are heading to the border with Uzbekistan.
"Entire streets are on fire," an Interior Ministry spokesman said. "The situation is very bad. There is no sign of it stopping. Homes have been set ablaze.”
Osh was the stronghold of former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who was overthrown following violent street protests in early April.
The interim government has declared a state of emergency and deployed troops to the region.
"We're clearly talking about a stand-off between two ethnicities. We need to… calm these people down, and this is what we are doing right now,” Interim leader Roza Otunbayeva said.
Medics have been unable to reach many of the injured people due to the fighting.
“Our doctors practically didn’t go out on calls at night because they were afraid,” Osh’s top doctor was quoted by the 24 kg news agency as saying.
He also added that those doctors that had attempted to reach the injured had been attacked.
The UN has appealed for calm and has called on Kyrgyzstan's interim government to "pay particular attention to inter-ethnic relations in the country."
Both Russia and the U.S. have military bases in the former Soviet republic, which many experts fear may now be on the brink of civil war.
BISHKEK, June 12 (RIA Novosti)
