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Kyrgyz unrest threatens all C.Asia -Kazakh president

Kazakhstan Materials 29 June 2010 13:47 (UTC +04:00)
Violence in Kyrgyzstan could stir ethnic tension in other parts of Central Asia and encourage the growth of drug trafficking and terrorism, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said on Tuesday.
Kyrgyz unrest threatens all C.Asia -Kazakh president

Violence in Kyrgyzstan could stir ethnic tension in other parts of Central Asia and encourage the growth of drug trafficking and terrorism, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

"Chaos and destabilisation in the region play into the hands of criminals engaged in the illegal trade of drugs, arms and human trafficking," he said.

Nazarbayev told a forum organised by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that tackling poverty and promoting tolerance among different ethnic groups were crucial to maintaining order in the region next to Afghanistan.

Kazakhstan holds the rotating chair of the OSCE and shares a border with Kyrgyzstan, where nearly 300 people -- and possibly hundreds more -- were killed in several days of conflict between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks this month.

"The most poignant consequence of the conflict in Kyrgyzstan is that the seeds of mistrust could be sown between other peoples of the region," Nazarbayev told the conference.

"A front is weakening in the war against international terrorism and extremism, the front line of which is in neighbouring Afghanistan," he said.

Kyrgyzstan voted in a referendum on Sunday to create the first parliamentary democracy in Central Asia, a former Soviet region otherwise ruled by authoritarian presidents.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned parliamentary rule could lead to factionalism, a power grab by extremist groups or even the collapse of Kyrgyzstan, where both Russia and the United States operate military air bases.

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