Swiss diplomat Markus Mueller has been appointed to head an international police monitoring mission in Kyrgyzstan, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said Friday, dpa reported.
The mission has been met by opposition from leading politicians and youth groups in recent weeks, who are opposed to international monitors meddling in Kyrgyz affairs.
Mueller previously served as head of the OSCE's centre in Bishkek.
So far 15 of the 56 OSCE member states have nominated members for the mission, including the United States and Russia.
An OSCE spokesman said earlier this week that the 52 unarmed observers could be ready for deployment by early September.
Reacting to Kyrgyz concerns, the OSCE explained that the officers had no mandate to carry out actual law enforcement.
Rather, they are to work in the southern provinces of Osh and Jalal-Abad, where ethnic clashes earlier this year killed 2,000 people.
They are to monitor police work and to mediate between police and the population there, which has a large share of ethnic Uzbeks
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