Germany and France on Saturday called on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to play a stronger role in bringing about stability in Kyrgyzstan following ethnic clashes that claimed some 2,000 lives, DPA reported.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner stressed that an OSCE police mission and an international inquiry into the fighting between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in the Central Asian country would help to achieve this.
The two visited Kyrgyzstan Friday ahead of the informal conference of foreign ministers from the 56-member OSCE taking place near Almaty in Kazakhstan.
"The aftermath of the violence and destruction is overwhelming," the ministers said in a paper released at the conference Saturday.
Westerwelle and Kouchner said the situation in south Kyrgyzstan remained fragile and therefore an OSCE police mission to southern Kyrgyzstan, the worst affected by the unrest, was necessary to create a climate of confidence.
The planned mission was on track, according to Westerwelle.
"We are convinced that this police mission, that we need to stabilize the situation in Kyrgyzstan, will take place," he said.
"I am under the impression that many colleagues here see this the same way," he said.
The OSCE, the world's largest security organization, and Kyrgyzstan's transitional government Friday agreed on the principles for a 52-member police advisory group to deployed for four months, with the option to send an additional 50 officers later.
"The tasks of this mission is first of all advising the Kyrgyz police," said Herbert Salber, head of the OSCE conflict prevention centre. "They will be assisting and also monitoring the Kyrgyz police."
Kyrgyz transitional President Rosa Otunbayeva said the issue of the mandate had to be precisely clarified.
The mission still needs the approval of the OSCE`s member states.
Hundreds of thousands were displaced in the violence that followed in the wake of the ousting of president Kurmanbek Bakiyev in early April.