BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Hundreds of volunteers in southern Kyrgyzstan took part in a one-day training course for citizen patrols, a delegate from the OSCE said Monday from Bishkek.
Lilian Darii, the deputy head of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe mission to Bishkek, said volunteer forces were able to add another layer of security in the south the country.
"During the last few months voluntary citizen patrols demonstrated their solid contribution in supporting the police to restore and maintain public order across the country," she said in a statement. "I hope that OSCE support during this pre-electoral period will further contribute to enhancing stability in the country."
Violence between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek communities in the southern cities of Osh and Jalal Abad killed at least 350 people in the wake of an April coup that brought Roza Otunbayeva to power as the interim president.
Otunbayeva threatened to postpone parliamentary elections scheduled for October if ethnic violence broke out again in the south.
"We are now planning to engage citizen patrols during and after parliamentary elections to help the police in maintaining law and order in all parts of the country," said Shamshybek Mamyrov, the deputy head for voluntary citizen patrols in Kyrgyzstan.
