URGENT PRAYER FOR KYRGYZSTAN

Dear Friend,

I received the following email written at 8:49 am today from a Russian
living in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. It is a cry for help and a plea
to get the word out about what is really happening in Southern
Kyrgyzstan. I am sending this out to ask for your urgent prayers for
this desperate situation...

"We are in the center of a war in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. It is impossible to
imagine the horror of the situation here!! The news is only reporting
a small portion of what is actually going on. It is ethnic cleansing
if you can call it that. Whole blocks of Uzbek homes have been torched
and burned. Women and children are being mercilessly killed. Many
bodies and injured people are lying in the streets without anyone to
help. Kyrgyz youth under the influence of alcohol and drugs are
running wild in the streets killing anyone and burning whatever lies
in their paths. This ethnic tension (between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks) has
existed under the surface for many years but recently has been stirred
up for political purposes. Because of this, it appears that
authorities are doing nothing to stop the conflict and are silent. It
seems that the whole situation was planned out in advance and that no
one planned to put a stop to it.



"One of my relatives went out today at
great risk to get groceries for his household. On his way he saw an
old man badly injured who was lying in the street. He wanted to help
him and turned him over onto his back. Immediately a group of young
men ran up and starting kicking the old man fiercely. My relative
heard one of these youths say, "He's Kyrgyz" Another said, "No
he's Uzbek, let's set him on fire." When my relative returned
the old man lay burned to death. Officially the government has issued
an order to shoot to kill anyone with a weapon but in reality no one
is carrying out this order. These horrendous acts are continuing to
take place. Police and soldiers are patrolling the streets but doing
nothing to stop the violence. Last night bandits broke into an army
storage facility where weapons, helicopters, tanks, etc were stored.
We couldn't imagine where these simple people had obtained so many
weapons before and now they have even more weapons, plus army
equipment! On top of all of this there is a shortage of food as the
stores have been vandalized. When our food supply runs out we will go
hungry. The news is reporting that humanitarian aid is getting in but
the supply is very limited. Not long ago bread was given out but for
some reason they refused to give it to the Russians. We are not
concerned about humanitarian aid, we simply want to live!



Some news reports are saying that things are getting more stable but the truth
is it is getting worse. My goal in writing this is to the get word out
to the world about what is actually happening here. We are afraid that
we will be forgotten and alone in this crisis with no one coming to
our aid. Presently they are not coming against us as Russians but we
believe it is only a matter of time before they turn on us. People
have "tasted blood" with no consequences and will not stop the
killing. We are living in a state of fear.



Please send this information out to as many people as possible.

This is our urgent plea for help."

Thank you for praying!