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| Kyrgyz prepares referendum | ||
| 2010-06-27 | ||
| Kyrgyzstan on Saturday prepared to hold a referendum on a new constitution, defying warnings the poll risked sparking a resurgence of this month's deadly inter-ethnic violence. The authorities cancelled a curfew in the southern city of Osh that was the epicentre of the violence which killed at least 275 people to pave the way for the vote on Sunday and insisted that the poll would go ahead. The referendum is the centrepiece of the interim government's blueprint for Kyrgyzstan after the ousting of president Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April riots and officials have said the latest violence was aimed at derailing the vote. 'The situation in the south of Kyrgyzstan is still tense but there are not the kind of events that make it impossible to stop the curfew for one day,' said Kyrgyzstan's interim leader Roza Otunbayeva. 'We have the capacity to ensure the security of people in the referendum,' she told reporters in the capital Bishkek. Polls were due to open on Sunday.
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| Posted by:Pappy |