In this issue:

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP)

• UN Assistant Secretary General visits Kyrgyzstan’s Ferghana Valley

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (UNDP)

UN Assistant Secretary General visited Kyrgyzstan’s Ferghana Valley

Mr. Kalman Mizsei, United Nations Assistant Secretary General and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Director for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, held meetings with top government and UN officials during his visit to Kyrgyzstan.

These meetings highlighted the international community’s concerns about prospects for stability and reform in the aftermath of Kyrgyzstan’s revolution in March, as well as the possible side effects of the violence in neighbouring Uzbekistan.

During discussion with acting President Kurmanbek Bakiev in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek, Mr. Mizsei reiterated UNDP’s commitment to support Kyrgyzstan’s democratic and market reforms.

Mr. Mizsei, who is the highest ranking UN official to visit the region since the 13 May outbreak of violence in the portion of the Ferghana Valley belonging to neighbouring Uzbekistan, also visited the cities of Jalalabad and Osh in Kyrgyzstan’s part of the Ferghana Valley.

Mr. Mizsei visited asylum seekers in the area along the border with Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, accompanied by the UN Resident Co-ordinator and UNDP Representative in Kyrgyzstan as well as the UNHCR Country Representative for Kyrgyzstan.

“I am greatly concerned about the events that took place in Uzbekistan and potential regional implications”, said Mizsei, who will stay in Kyrgyzstan until 26 May.

Given the difficult conditions of the current camp site, Mr. Mizsei appealed to both sides to adhere to international conventions on the protection of asylum seekers and refugees.

Mr. Mizsei strongly supports UNHCRs request to the Government of Kyrgyzstan for permission to move the asylum seekers to a more suitable site further away from the border.

More than 500 people, some of whom were wounded, fled to Kyrgyzstan’s Jalalabad Oblast region following the outbreak of the 13 May violence in neighbouring Andijan in Uzbekistan.

According to the UNHCR, "The new arrivals have been registered by the Kyrgyz Department of Migration Service and have been issued temporary cards".

In addition to meeting with acting President Bakiev, Mr. Mizsei also conducted a regional meeting with UN Resident Co-ordinators in Central Asia in Bishkek 23-24 May.

The current situation in the Ferghana Valley, and its links to the international communities’ other priorities in Central Asia, were emphasised during this meeting.

For additional information please contact Olga Grebennikova, UNDP Public Affairs Officer: Tel. 0 996 (312) 61-12-13. Cell phone: 0 996 (502) 51-22-99. E-mail: