Bishkek, 9 December 1996 (RFE/RL) -- To mark tomorrow's United Nations-sponsored World Human Rights Day, a group of Uighurs plan to rally at the Chinese embassy in Bishkek. A rally organizer today told our Bishkek correspondent that participants plan to try to give the Chinese ambassador a letter on alleged human rights violations in China's Xinjiang province.
There have been persistent reports of Beijing's repression of the separatist Muslim Uighur people in Xinjiang province. About 50,000 ethnic Uighurs live in Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan have pledged to Beijing not to offer support to Uighur separatists.
Akayev To Visit Uzbekistan
Kyrgyzstan's President Askar Akayev will visit Uzekistan December 24. The Presidential press service announced today that Akayev will sign a friendship treaty during the visit. A group of Kyrgyz experts, led by First Deputy Foreign Minister, Alikbek Jekshenkulov, traveled to Tashkent today to prepare Akayev's visit.