Interview (full text below):

"According to the news we get from the south, the situation is getting calmer. I would say that what is happening now in general there is a lot of tension, and it is still quite volatile. United Nations, we have sent just today in the morning a team headed by UN resident coordinator with his security advisers to assess the situation on the ground in Osh and in the surroundings in order to ensure humanitarian corridor, because humanitarian aid is coming there but it is quite difficult to deliver the aid in a proper way to the people who are suffering."

"Our team is now in Osh and they are assessing the situation on the ground. We plan to have.. to get back our presence there as of today already, if conditions permit, in order to assure that the aid is distributed equally to all who need such aid without regard to nationality or other, let's say, aspects."

STORYLINE:

The deputy head of Kyrgyzstan's interim government on Thursday denied rumours that humanitarian aid was not getting to Uzbek communities in the south, saying special commissions were monitoring distribution in Osh and Jalal-Abad.

Deputy prime minister Azimbek Beknazarov, who was speaking to the media on Thursday, said "I've personally requested that humanitarian aid be distributed in Jalal-Abad and to Uzbek refugees in Atabek village, to 10 to 20-thousand people, most of them are young people, women and children."

Kyrgyz authorities said some 160 tons of aid have been sent to Osh and Jalal-Abad, both cities which suffered serious damage in the rioting.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said security in Osh remained fragile with violence persisting in pockets on the city's edges.
It said on Wednesday the Red Cross and rights organisations had trouble reaching some Uzbek neighbourhoods, and voiced concern that humanitarian assistance was not reaching all of the population.

Miroslav Jenca, United Nations representative, said reports the UN received from the south showed that "the situation is getting calmer" however he added that "in general there is a lot of tension, it is still quite volatile".

"We plan to have.. to get back our presence there as of today already, if conditions permit, in order to assure that the aid is distributed equally to all who need such aid without regard to nationality," he added.

The leader of Kyrgyzstan's Uzbek community said the death toll among Uzbeks has exceeded 300.

The official toll on both sides is 189, although officials have acknowledged it is likely far higher.

More than 100-thousand Uzbeks have fled to Uzbekistan, with tens of thousands more camped on the Kyrgyz side of the border.

Meanwhile, a handful of Uzbek refugees displaced by days of ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan were returning to their wrecked homes in the southern city of Osh, where a semblance of normality is slowly setting in.