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SCO calls for regional security
By Wu Jiao and Qin Yize (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-12 10:27
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Tashkent - Members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on Friday echoed opposition to any action that threatens regional stability and called for a diplomatic approach to the latest unrest in Kyrgyzstan, after 37 people were killed in ethnic clashes in the south of the Central Asian nation.
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 Leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization pose for a family photograph in Tashkent on Friday. They are (from left) Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Uzbek President Islam Karimov, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Tajikistan's President Imomali Rakhmon. [Photo/Agencies]
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Any difference should be settled through dialogue and consultations by political and diplomatic means, said the declaration of the SCO, which groups China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
The member states emphasized that restoring Kyrgyzstan's political stability is significant to the entire region and were willing to provide necessary support and assistance to the nation.
President Hu Jintao told the summit earlier that China sincerely hoped the situation in Kyrgyzstan stabilizes soon.
"We will continue to help Kyrgyzstan within our capability," Hu said.
Hu's Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev said Russia wanted an immediate end to the unrest in neighboring Kyrgyzstan, which hosts both US and Russian military bases.
"We sincerely hope that this phase of internal turmoil is overcome as soon as possible," he said.
According to Medvedev, the SCO will send a group of observers to Kyrgyzstan to monitor a referendum on the country's new constitution. The referendum is due on June 27.
Medvedev said it was important to guarantee that statehood in Kyrgyzstan will develop lawfully.
According to the Russian International News Agency, Kyrgyzstan's interim Prime Minister Roza Otunbayeva has noted that the current turbulence in the southern city of Osh is targeted at the just concluded SCO summit.
"The SCO summit has far-reaching significance for the forces that started the clashes," she was quoted as saying.
Kyrgyzstan's interim government declared a state of emergency and slapped a curfew on southern parts of the country on Friday after ethnic clashes left at least 37 people dead and around 523 wounded.
The provisional government, which has struggled to assert order over the state since taking power amid unrest earlier this year, insisted that while the situation remained volatile, government forces were in control.
In mid-May, supporters of the Kyrgyz interim government and those of ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev clashed in the southern cities of Osh and Jalalabad, during which tens of people were injured.
Riots broke out on April 6-7 across the country, resulting in the ouster of Bakiyev and the formation of an interim government. Agencies contributed to this story.
China Daily