UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- Clashes in 2010 in Kyrgyzstan pitting ethnic Uzbeks against Kyrgyzstanis are serious obstacles to regional peace, the Uzbek foreign minister said.
At least 470 people were killed in ethnic conflicts near Osh and Jalal Abad in Kyrgyzstan. Most of the victims of the violence were ethnic Uzbeks. The violence followed an April coup that forced Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to flee the country.
Rights groups warned that social stigmas associated with sexual violence were exacerbated by simmering tensions between ethnic communities in Kyrgyzstan.
Uzbek Foreign Minister Elyor Ganiev told the U.N. General Assembly that ethnic violence last year was "a serious challenge to peace and stability in the Central Asia region."
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International in separate reports marking the anniversary of the conflict said investigations into the violence were flawed.
Ganiev said that until a proper investigation is carried out, it would be difficult to restore trust between the two ethnic groups.
Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva had previously acknowledged the shortcomings by saying there was "no trust in the courts" in Kyrgyzstan.
