U.N.: Kyrgyz refugee count at 400,000

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, June 17 (UPI) -- A U.N. agency says the Kyrgyz-Uzbek ethnic clashes in Kyrgyzstan have driven some 400,000 people from their homes, far more than earlier estimates.

Quoting governmental and non-governmental organization figures, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said about 300,000 of the refugees fleeing the weeklong clashes in the southern part of the Central Asian nation have been displaced internally, while an estimated 100,000 more have sought refuge in neighboring Uzbekistan.

The UNHCR said in a news release Kyrgyz authorities are seeking to restore law and order. The clashes so far have claimed the lives of 180 people and another 1,900 have been injured.

The unrest comes after the violent uprising in April that saw the ouster of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

"The situation in Osh and nearby villages appears to be volatile," the agency said, noting many families have left Osh, the country's second largest city, for Bishkek, the capital.

The U.N. agency planned to airlift about 80 tons of relief material from Dubai this weekend to aid the refugees. Aid to those in Uzbekistan has already begun.

The Washington Post reported the latest U.N. figures, which doubled the previous refugee estimates, come as the Kyrgyz military appeared to face difficulty in restoring order in a region with a population of more than 2 million, even as conditions appeared to be improving. Aid workers distributing food faced sporadic gunfire.

The Post said the Uzbeks are particularly critical of the army and police, who are mostly Kyrgyz, accusing them giving free rein to Kyrgyz mobs.

The report quoted a Human Rights Watch researcher as saying testimony he has collected thus far indicated Kyrgyz troops at the minimum ignored the attacks on Uzbek neighborhoods.