First humanitarian aid for Kyrgyz refugees arrives

UN humanitarian aid began to arrive in Uzbekistan on Wednesday for the estimated 75,000 refugees who have fled ethnic conflict across the border in Kyrgyzstan, according to local officials.

By Elena CASAS (video)
News Wires (text)

AFP - A plane carrying the first foreign aid for refugees, who fled the violence in Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan, arrived Wednesday in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan, local officials said.

Things are getting worse and worse by the hour. We hear reports of tens of thousands of people fleeing the fighting and looting, and heading towards the Kyrgyz border with Uzbekistan.

Severine Chappaz, deputy head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Kyrgyzstan

The plane carried supplies from The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), officials from the local branch of the emergency situations ministry told an AFP correspondent at the airport.

The first plane was carrying 800 tents to house the refugees and two more UNHCR flights were expected to bring more supplies later in the day.

A number of trucks were standing by at the local airport for immediate distribution to the refugees.

Uzbek officials have said that over 75,000 people have fled the ethnic fighting between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan to Uzbekistan.

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