ASTANA. June 16 (Interfax) - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has called on sides involved in ethnic clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan to launch talks to put an end to the violence which has already claimed at least 179 lives.
"I call on all sides in the conflict to put down their weapons, to sit down at the negotiating table and to resolve all of the remaining issues jointly," Nazarbayev said after a working meeting with Prime Minister Karim Masimov, presidential chief-of-staff Aslan Musin and Security Council secretary Marat Tazhin in Astana on Tuesday.
The Kazakh president promised to provide Kyrgyzstan with all the necessary assistance.
"I will ask international organizations and other states to send humanitarian aid to Kyrgyzstan. Those who will provide this aid can be certain that it will reach its destination. But we need to coordinate our steps on this issue as well," he said.
Kazakhstan has been working together with other countries, especially Russia and Uzbekistan, to help allay tensions in Kyrgyzstan, Nazarbayev said.
"We have agreed that the Security Council secretaries of our countries will monitor the situation in Kyrgyzstan in order to determine concrete measures we will take. We will work together with the interim government of Kyrgyzstan as well," he said.
OSCE Special Envoy Zhanibek Karibzhanov is currently visiting Kyrgyzstan, he added.