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Astana concerned about ethnic violence

ASTANA, Kazakhstan, June 30 (UPI) -- Instability in Kyrgyzstan is a potential threat to the entire Central Asian region, the president of Kazakhstan told the OSCE in Astana.

A constitutional referendum passed Sunday in Kyrgyzstan transfers much of the power from the president to a prime minister. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe announced that its observers hailed the measure as a step in the right direction after civil strife in the wake of an April coup killed hundreds and displaced thousands more.

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Nursultan Nazarbayev, president of neighboring Kazakhstan, told an OSCE conference on tolerance that the conflict that gripped the ethnic Uzbek and Kyrgyz communities in southern Kyrgyzstan in June presented a "significant" challenge to the region, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports.

The Kazakh president called for an OSCE center to mediate discussions between ethnic and religious communities in the 56-member intergovernmental organization.

Kazakhstan took over the leadership of the OSCE in January.

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