KYRGYZSTAN SEEKS DR MAHATHIR'S ASSISTANCE TO MEDIATE PEACE PROCESS

KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 (Bernama) -- Kyrgyzstan is looking forward to former
prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's help to bring peace between the Kyrgyz
and the Uzbeks following two weeks of bloody clashes between the two ethnic
groups in the southern part of the country.

The Central Asian country's ambassador to Malaysia, Dr Bakir Uulu Tursunbay,
said that Dr Mahathir, as the Malaysian elder statesman and well respected in
the Muslim world, would be accepted to both parties and based on his vast
experience was suitable to undertake the peace-making role.

Bakir said he had requested to meet Dr Mahathir and hoped to meet him soon
to convey the message on the matter.

"We believe our people, both Kyrgyz and Uzbeks, will listen to people like
him. As a Muslim and a neutral person, he can contribute positively to
peace-making efforts and the confidence-building process," Bakir told Bernama in
an interview at his office here.

News reports said that clashes between the ethnic-majority Kyrgyz and the
minority Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan this month had killed as many as 2,000
people and forced some 400,000 ethnic Uzbeks to temporarily flee to Uzbekistan.


Bakir said Dr Mahathir was well-known in Kyrgyzstan among the two ethnic
groups as he had visited the landlocked and mountainous country of some 5.5
million people twice in 1996 and 1997 and they were also aware of his
contributions to Malaysia and the Muslim world.

Bakir said he had noted Dr Mahathir's role in developing Bishkek and Kuala
Lumpur bilateral relations as Dr Mahathir was the one who had convinced the
then President Askar Akayev, the first president of the country, to open the
Kyrgyzstan embassy here in 1997.

Kyrgyzstan and Malaysia established diplomatic ties in 1992, a year after
the republic gained independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union in
1991.

Bakir said Dr Mahathir, who served as Malaysian prime minister for about 22
years and as the chairman of the Perdana Global Peace Organisation had the
necessary ability and wide experience in peace-making efforts.

"We sincerely hope he will accept (our invitation). In any conflict or
crisis like what we are facing today maybe one side will listen (to the
government) and another not. So we need a neutral leader who can satisfy both
sides," he said.

Bakir said they were also keen on getting opinions from Dr Mahathir on
issues related to the economic development of Kyrgyzstan as he believed that in
a well-developed economy, there was no place for any conflict.

-- BERNAMA



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