Kyrgyzstan Latest: Appeal for Aid; "Outside Elements" Fomenting Violence? (Al Jazeera)

Al Jazeera English reports this morning:

The United Nations has appealed for $71 million in humanitarian aid for Kyrgyzstan, where more than 400,000 people have been displaced by deadly fighting.

The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the appeal would provide aid to nearly 1.1 million people affected by the violence in the south of the Central Asian nation.

Fighting between Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks has killed at least 200 people since it erupted a little over a week ago.

"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," John Holmes, the OCHA head, said on Friday.

"I therefore urge all donors and supporters to ensure that this flash appeal for Kyrgyzstan receives a generous and rapid response."

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, has said there are shortages of food, water and electricity in the violence-hit areas.

"Hospitals and other institutions are running low on medical supplies," he said.

An appeal for neighbouring Uzbekistan, where about 100,000 refugees have taken shelter, would be launched next week, Ban said.

'"utside elements" blamed

For his part, Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan's president, accused "outside" elements of instigating the violence, saying neither ethnic Uzbeks nor Kyrgyz were responsible for starting it.

"Neither Uzbeks nor Kyrgyz are to blame for this," he was quoted as saying by the official Uza news agency on Saturday.

"These disruptive actions were organised and managed from outside.

"Forces that organised this subversive act tried to drag Uzbekistan into this standoff."

Kyrgyzstan's interim leadership has blamed Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the country's deposed president, of masterminding the violence.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, echoed those allegations, saying Bakiyev may be to blame.

"Certainly, the ouster of President Bakiyev some months ago left behind those who were still his loyalists and very much against the provisional government," she said in remarks posted on the state department website on Saturday.

"There certainly have been allegations of instigation that have to be taken seriously."

Bakiyev, now in exile in Belarus, has strongly denied any involvement in the events.

Roza Otunbayeva, the interim leader, has said the real death toll from the clashes could be up to 10 times higher than the official figure because many bodies had been buried unregistered.

Wearing a bullet-proof vest and ringed by security, Otunbayeva visited the devastated city of Osh on Friday.

Number-one complaint

Al Jazeera's Clayton Swisher, who was travelling with her, said that she was surrounded by a shouting mob at the end of her visit and had to be escorted into a building by her bodyguards.

"The number-one complaint people had when they saw the interim president was 'What took you so long to get down here?'," he said.

Otunbayeva defended her government from criticism that it has been unable to contain the ethnic bloodshed and to cope with the escalating humanitarian crisis.

"Leave us some hope! Stop saying that we are not working," she said. "Our forces say that they are coping.

Also on Friday, Otunbayeva announced that Russia would help the country in restoring security.

"Russian troops will guard some strategic sites ... to ensure security for these sites," she said.

Russia had previously refused Otunbayeva's request to dispatch military forces to help quell unrest, although the country did send humanitarian aid.

Witnesses and experts say that while many Kyrgyz were killed in the unrest, most victims appear to have been ethnic Uzbeks, a community of traditional farmers and traders who speak a different Turkic language.

China This Week: Kyrgyzstan, Beijing's Help for US; Latest on Economy

Shan Shan writes for EA:

China and Kyrgyzstan: China has evacuated 1,299 nationals from Kyrgyzstan where ethnic clashes have left at least 187 people dead, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

The ninth and last chartered flight of China Southern Airlines, with 148 Chinese nationals aboard, landed at an airport in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, early Thursday morning from Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan.

"After three days of efforts, the vast majority of Chinese nationals in Osh have been flown home," said Sun Dali, deputy director of the Department of Consular Affairs with the Foreign Ministry. "But we will continue to pay attention to and contact the Chinese nationals who are still staying in Kyrgyzstan, and offer immediate assistance to them in light of the changes of the local situation."

Meanwhile, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said that the Chinese government has offered emergency humanitarian aid to Kyrgyzstan. The 5-million-yuan ($732,064) in assistance, including medicine, medical equipment, food, drinking water, blankets and tents was announced by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Beijing boosts holdings of US Debt: China has boosted its holdings of United States Treasury debt for the second straight month. The move is a gesture of assistance to Washington, easing concerns that lagging foreign demand --- and thus lower American exports --- will force the US Government to pay higher interest rates to finance its debt.

China's holdings of US Treasury securities rose by $5 billion to $900.2 billion in April, the US Treasury Department said. China is the largest foreign holder of Treasury securities, and the monthly gains in March and April come after six consecutive months when Beijing was either reducing its US holdings or keeping them constant.

The Chinese gesture to the US was made despite (or possibly because of) public exchanges between Beijing and Washington over the value of the Chinese currency.

China's Foreign Ministry on Monday responded to US calls for a rise in value of the yuan, thus assisting US exports to China,  saying that this was not to blame for the American trade deficit with China. The statement was also aimed at the US Congress, which has been threatening to press China over exchange rate policy.

During the first quarter of this year, US exports of goods to China increased about 50 percent compared to the same period in 2009.

The Latest on the Chinese Economy: China's consumer price index rose 3.1 percent in May compared to 2009, the National Bureau of Statistics has announced. This was a rise from April's figure of 2.8 percent and the trend earlier this year of 2.5 percent.

There may be further pressure on the economy: the producer price index rose 7.1 percent in May, up from April's 6.8 percent.

The official news was balanced by figures showing a 27.5 percent rise in foreign direct investment and a 48.5 percent rise in Chinese exports.

VP on Overseas Tour: Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping is travelling this week, making official visits to Bangladesh, Laos, New Zealand, and Australia.

As is often the case, the reasons for the trip are vague in Chinese official media, but the Australian and New Zealand legs, with meetings with New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, are likely to focus on Pacific security. Laos and Bangladesh? Look for some signs regarding Chinese overseas investment.