OSH, Kyrgyzstan, July 21 (UPI) -- Members of the Uzbek community in southern Kyrgyzstan said they are afraid of harassment by local security forces, non-governmental organizations said.
Violence between the ethnic Uzbek and Kyrgyz communities in southern Kyrgyzstan displaced thousands of people and killed hundreds more in June violence that followed an April coup.
The aid group Doctors Without Borders said that more than five weeks after clashes erupted in the Kyrgyz south, a "climate of fear" was still present among the ethnic communities.
Andrei Slavuckij, the Doctors Without Borders program manager for Kyrgyzstan, said in a statement that his doctors were treating patients who showed signs of abuse and torture.
"Many people, especially from the Uzbek community in Osh, told us they are not going to a public medical structure as they are afraid of being arrested," he added.
U.N. humanitarian officials said Uzbeks faced intimidation from local authorities in southern Kyrgyzstan.
"The continuing threats and intimidation is leading many citizens, in particular ethnic Uzbeks, to leave or plan to leave the country," the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe said it would send a multinational force of around 50 to 100 police to help stabilize southern Kyrgyzstan. The OSCE said its officers wouldn't serve as peacekeepers, however.
