NO UZBEK GUNMEN REPORTED IN KYRGYZSTAN

BISHKEK, May 17, (RIA Novosti, Yulia Orlova) - No Uzbek gunmen have entered Kyrgyzstan, a spokesman for the Kyrgyz National Security Service said.

"Secret services have no information about armed persons crossing our border. Still this does not mean that they will never do this," Tokon Mamytov, First Deputy Chairman of Kyrgyzstan's National Security Service, said.

"The Governments of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan are doing all they can to prevent this," Momytov stressed.

"At the same time, Kyrgyz and Uzbek border guards do not patrol some national-border sectors," Momytov noted.

"We are now analyzing this situation. The Interior Ministry's units are also helping guard the state border," Momytov added.

According to Momytov, the situation in Andizhan, Uzbekistan, and the Andizhan region has now been normalized to some extent. However, "some hotbeds of tension still persist along the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border. People, who have left their places of residence, are now crowding near Kyrgyzstan," Momytov said.

Addressing the national Parliament's session, National Security Council Secretary Miroslav Niyazov noted that 541 Uzbek refugees, including 30 Kyrgyz nationals, were now staying at Kyrgyz filtration camps. Such camps have been established by the republican Ecology and Emergency Situations Ministry.

In Niyazov's words, the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan has asked Kyrgyz authorities to display goodwill toward refugees. The Uzbek Prime Minister also assured them that the country's Government would take them back over a ten-day period, after the Andizhan situation is stabilized.

"The Prime Minister has said that they can pay for refugees' accommodations and food. However, we refused because we must help a fraternal nation in trouble. Refugees' accommodations were financed out of the Kyrgyz budget until May 14. International organizations offered their money after May 15," Niyazov said.

"More than 650 Uzbek refugees are now staying on Kyrgyz territory," Niyazov added.