Fears Kyrgyzstan death toll much higher than official line

 ABC

After days of ethnic clashes in Kyrgyzstan there are fears the number of dead may be much higher than the official toll of more than 190.

According to security officials in the country, the actual figure may be 10 times more.

The violence between ethnic Kyrgs and Uzbeks has eased, but now the challenge for governments on both sides of the border is to care for more than 100,000 refugees.

It is not a disaster yet but aid agencies say the sheer number of refugees now jammed into camps in Uzbekistan has far surpassed that country's ability to cope.

Pierre-Emmanuel Ducruet from the Red Cross is trying to coordinate aid delivery with Uzbekistan's government.

"They have some means, but their means are limited and the international aid is very much needed," he said.

"The conditions for the first days were acceptable but unfortunately since this situation is lasting, the refugees on the Uzbek side of the border need food, also drinkable water and shelter."

More than 100,000 refugees fill camps meant for half that number.

Almost all are ethnic Uzbeks who fled violent rampages by ethnic Kyrgs in the cities of Osh and Jalalabad in southern Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyzstan's interim government has accused supporters of the former president, who was ousted in April, of sparking the violence.

United Nations Human Rights Commission spokesman Rupert Colville says there are signs the latest violence was not random.

"We heard basically similar things from a number of different sources that there were clear signs of orchestration, that it wasn't just some spontaneous inter-ethnic problem that flared up," he said.

Kyrgyzstan - a former Soviet republic - has called on Russia to send peacekeeping troops to help stabilise the country.

Moscow has been reluctant and together with other former Soviet states has offered only helicopters and trucks to help Kyrgyzstan's army.

Irina Zvyagilskaya from the Moscow Institute of Foreign Relations says there is a real threat the ethnic violence could morph into something much more dangerous.

"I'm talking about very bad scenario which we cannot exclude completely," she said.

"If, God forbid, there is a civil war, it will involve the north and the south of Kyrgyzstan because the main clans represent the south and the north.

"Without international assistance it might happen."

Russia may not want to wade into the middle of Kyrgyzstan's ethnic conflict. But if the violence does not stop, it may have no choice.