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GENEVA / KYRGYZSTAN HUMANITARIAN UPDATE
STORY: GENEVA / KYRGYZSTAN HUMANITARIAN UPDATE
TRT: 2:08
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DEADLINE: 18 JUNE 2010, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide Shot of Press Room III
2. Med shot, panellists
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Elizabeth Byrs, spokeswoman, UN Humanitarian Affairs Coordination Office:
“The tension is very tense, there is a lot of sporadic violence, a lot of aggression, it’s very volatile and really tension is very high and we are very concerned about safety of people still based in Osh. They have been joined by some people fleeing other villages and in some areas of Osh they are barricaded and they have no access and they don’t want to go out and have access to medical treatment. So the situation remains very tense.”
4. Med shot of journalists, Press Room III
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Christian Cardon, Spokesperson, International Committee of the Red Cross:
“Our teams in the field continue to describe what we call an uneasy calm for the last three days. Indeed the situation remains tense with some incidents of violence registered in Osh last night. The main priority at the moment remains for the ICRC to provide to tens of thousands of internally displaced in South Kyrgyzstan. It’s very difficult to give a precise number of displaced but we can easily talk about tens of thousands.”
6. Mid Shot of journalists, Press Room III
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Mr. Andrej Mahecic, spokesperson, United Nations High Commission for Refugees:
“There are still continued reports of sporadic violence. The access for the humanitarian workers to many parts of Osh and neighbouring villages as well as in other parts of Southern Kyrgyzstan is extremely difficult and limited. We estimate some 300,000 people are displaced in Kyrgyzstan since the outbreak of violence started while an additional 100,000 have fled and sought safety in neighbouring Uzbekistan.”
8. Wide Shot of Press Room III
The Spokesperson for the office of United Nations (UN) Humanitarian Affairs Coordination Office (OCHA), Elizabeth Byrs, called the situation in southern Kyrgyzstan “very volatile and very tense” saying that “there is a lot of sporadic violence, a lot of aggression.”
According to OCHA, at least 191 people were killed in the recent clashes between the Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks around Osh and Jalalabad.
The inter-ethnic violence is reported to have led to well over a thousand injured, since fighting erupted in the city of Osh on last week, spreading to the neighbouring town of Jalalabad over the weekend.
The Uzbek Government said that more than 100,000 refugees have crossed from Kyrgyzstan so far.
In a press conference in Geneva earlier today (18 June) Byrs said the violence was still ongoing and that OCHA is “very concerned about safety of people still based in Osh.”
Christian Cardon, Spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said its workers have reached refugees in the areas around Osh.
OCHA reported that 30 flights carrying humanitarian cargo have flown to Osh and Jalal-Abad, carrying 780 tonnes of medical supplies.
Andrej Mahecic from the UN Refugee Agency said that the “access for the humanitarian workers to many parts of Osh and neighbouring villages as well as in other parts of Southern Kyrgyzstan is extremely difficult and limited.”
The UN estimates that there are a total of 300,000 internally displaced persons in Kyrgyzstan and at least 75,000 refugees in Uzbekistan.
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