WFP is accelerating the delivery of food assistance for families displaced by violence in Kyrgyzstan. At the same time, the agency is opening a humanitarian hub in the southern city of Osh to act as a staging post, receiving assistance for the whole humanitarian community.

BISHKEK (21 June 2010) – A planeload of aid arrived in the southern Kyrgyzstan city of Osh on Monday, bringing rations for over 30,000 people caught up in the recent violence as well as telecommunications equipment to support the humanitarian response to the crisis.

“With a huge number of people displaced by the conflict, and thousands more trapped without food, water or supplies, there’s not a moment to lose,” said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran, announcing that the flow of humanitarian aid to victims of the conflict in southern Kyrgyzstan would intensify this week.   

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, and KURGANPATA, Uzbekistan, (21 June 2010) – Despite continuing concerns about security, UNICEF has started a large airlift and overland distribution of supplies to people displaced by violence in Kyrgyzstan. At the same time, some of the ethnic Uzbek families that fled the country into neighbouring Uzbekistan have now moved from transit points into bigger camps supported by UNICEF.

More than 200 people are officially confirmed dead and over 2,000 wounded as a result of the violence, which broke out in southern Kyrgyzstan on 10 June, and media reports quoting the country’s interim government continue to suggest that the actual number of casualties could be much higher.

According to government and UN estimates, at least 300,000 people are internally displaced in Kyrgyzstan, while almost 100,000 have crossed the border into Uzbekistan and are now refugees.    

20 June 2010 -- The first cargo plane carrying UNHCR shelter and non-food relief arrived in Osh, Kyrgyzstan this morning local time, with a second flight expected within a day.

The two planes are UNHCR's first cargo flights to arrive in Osh since the crisis erupted and are providing 80 tonnes of initial assistance for some 15,000 people. Two hundred and forty tonnes of aid for refugees has already been flown into neighbouring Uzbekistan.    

New York, (18 June 2010) -- Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for joining us here today to discuss the situation in Kyrgyzstan and the influx of refugees into Uzbekistan. Our first thoughts have to be for the many victims of the violence and their families, and for the hundreds of thousands of affected and displaced as they struggle to cope with what has happened to them.

I welcome this opportunity today to take stock briefly of the humanitarian situation, to brief you on the humanitarian community’s response thus far, to set out the main points of today’s Flash Appeal for the response in Kyrgyzstan, and to outline some of the priorities for the weeks and months ahead. Let me make clear that we will also be launching a separate Flash Appeal early next week for the refugees in Uzbekistan. 

New York, (18 June 2010) -- The United Nations and its partners in Kyrgyzstan today launched a humanitarian Flash Appeal to assist more than one million people suffering from the acute consequences of violence and displacement over the last week in Kyrgyzstan.

The Appeal calls for US$71,145,639 million to provide life-saving assistance over the next six months to an estimated 300,000 people who have been internally displaced by the conflict in southern Kyrgyzstan, and up to 765,300 people who have been otherwise affected, such as those in communities hosting the displaced or in towns and villages devastated by the violent unrest.

"I have been shocked by the extent of the violence and appalled by the deaths and injuries, widespread arson, sexual violence, looting of state, commercial and private property and destruction of infrastructure," said John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.

WFP has distributed food to thousands of people affected by the humanitarian crisis in Kyrgyzstan and is calling on all sides to allow the delivery of food and medical supplies.

BISHKEK (18 June 2010) – WFP has distributed a two-week ration of food to a group of 13,000 people in the southern city of Osh, the second largest city in Kyrgyzstan and epicentre of the fighting which broke out last week. With the help of local partners, WFP gave out 100 metric tons of wheat flour and three metric tons of oil to people trapped in their neighbourhoods by the violence.

“This crisis is unfolding rapidly and WFP is mobilizing its global expertise to ensure that the vulnerable –  particularly women and children – do not suffer,” said WFP’s Executive Director Josette Sheeran. “We implore all sides to ensure humanitarian access to the vulnerable, trapped by the crisis,” she said.   

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 18 June 2010, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

Geneva, (18 June 2010) --  UNHCR's airlift into Kyrgyzstan is scheduled to launch this weekend. Two chartered Ilyushin-76 cargo planes carrying 80 tonnes of relief items are expected to arrive in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh. This initial assistance will help cover the immediate needs of about 15,000 people. The first flight, with 800 tents, is expected to land in Osh on Saturday 19 June, while the second plane carrying other aid from our emergency stockpile in Dubai is expected to be arriving on Sunday 20 June.

The situation in southern Kyrgyzstan remains fragile and tense. There are continued sporadic reports of violence. Access for humanitarian workers to many parts of Osh and southern Kyrgyzstan is extremely difficult and limited. We estimate some 300,000 people are internally displaced in Kyrgyzstan, while an additional 100,000 are estimated to have taken refuge in Uzbekistan.