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High-ranking U.S. diplomat to discuss post-crisis situation in Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan Materials 18 July 2010 07:59 (UTC +04:00)
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg will pay a visit the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek on Sunday to discuss stabilization measures in the south of the country, where hundreds of people were killed in ethnic clashes in June.
High-ranking U.S. diplomat to discuss post-crisis situation in Kyrgyzstan

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg will pay a visit the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek on Sunday to discuss stabilization measures in the south of the country, where hundreds of people were killed in ethnic clashes in June.

On the eve of his visit, Steinberg called for the urgent dispatch of an international police mission to Kyrgyzstan to "promote a swift reconciliation between the two sides", RIA Novosti reported.

The U.S. official "will meet with the Interim Government and civil society leaders, and visit Manas Transit Center," the U.S. Department of State said on its website.

"Issues of democratic development and forthcoming parliamentary elections are expected to be raised," a spokesman for Kyrgyz interim government said.

Violent clashes between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan broke out in the city of Osh on June 11 and then spread to the neighboring Jalalabad region. Unofficial estimates put the death toll at around 2,000 people, while half a million may have been made homeless by the violence, which saw thousands of homes burned.

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