10 September 1999
DATE FOR NEGOTIATIONS WITH REBELS IS NOT YET SET.
Tursunbek Akunov, Chairman of the Human Rights Movement of Kyrgyzstan and current mediator between Kyrgyz government and the guerrillas, visited the RFE/RL bureau in Bishkek on 10 September. He said there are about 200-300 rebels in southern Kyrgyzstan now, not more. Their leader is Yunus Abdrakmanov, aged about 35. Akunov has held talks with him. According to Akunov, General Anarbek Shamkeev, four Japanese geologists and other hostages are alive but he has not seen them personally.
Akunov has brought a letter from Abdrakmanov to the Kyrgyz government and should return with an answer to the guerrillas' base in the village of Kojo-Ashkan by 13 September. Only after that will Abdrakmanov contact his bosses, and a date for possible negotiations between the Kyrgyz government and the rebels could be announced.
KYRGYZ PRESIDENT TO GERMANY AND TURKEY.
According to the foreign ministry, a Kyrgyz government delegation will go to Germany on 10 September. It will arrive in Munich first and will be led by speaker of the parliamentary People�s Assembly Abdygany Erkebayev. They will meet in Munich with leaders of BMW and the Siemens companies.
President Askar Akayev will fly to Germany on 12 September and will join the delegation in Berlin. He will meet there with President Johannes Rau, Chancellor Gerhardt Schroeder and other officials to discuss bilateral relations. On 14 September, Akayev will go to Turkey and will attend in Ankara the celebration of the 700th anniversary of the Turkish empire. Also, he will present President Suleiman Demirel of Turkey forty yurtas, special Kyrgyz mobile houses, as a help to people made homeless by last month's earthquake.
RELIGIOUS OFFICIALS TO BATKEN.
The governmental commission on religious affairs announced in Bishkek on 9 September that the chairman of the commission, parliament deputy Jolbors Jorobekov, and the Mufti of Kyrgyzstan, Abdysatar Majitov, departed for Batken earlier in the day. They will meet with local Muslim communities and their Imams. The commission will give the refugees 5,000-som help. The Muftiyat (the Muslim Board) will give refugees 10,000-som help (about $250). There are about 4,000 refugees in Batken district now. The number of refugees in the Batken, Kadamjai and Chon-Alai districts reached 6,000 last week. Since then, almost all the refugees in the Kadamjai and Chong-Alai districts have returned home.
INTERNATIONAL HELP FOR KYRGYZSTAN.
The Foreign Ministry held a meeting in Bishkek on 8 September on international help to Kyrgyzstan. First Deputy Minister Alikbek Jekshenkulov thanked the all organizations and countries helping Kyrgyzstan.
It was announced at the meeting that the UNDP and UNICEF have sent 125 tons of food and 25 tons of clothes. The World Health Organization has sent Kyrgyzstan medicaments worth $30,000. The Japanese government has allotted $85,000 for medicaments and additional $85,000 for rehabilitation works. The German government has sent a mobile hospital for 150 persons.