US Dispatches Envoy to Kyrgyzstan

The US has sent its top Central Asia diplomat to Kyrgyzstan, amid communal violence which has left at least 179 people dead and displaced thousands.

Robert Blake will meet officials in the capital Bishkek on Friday and Saturday to assess the country's needs.

The Kyrgyz government has appealed for international help over the fighting between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in the southern cities of Osh and Jalalabad. More than 250,000 people have fled the violence, UN officials say.

Many of the displaced are ethnic Uzbek women and children, who are heading for neighbouring Uzbekistan. Victims have spoken of mass rape being carried out on Uzbek women, and violence against children.

At least 1,870 people have been injured, according to the Kyrgyz health ministry.

Meanwhile, the son of former President Maxim Bakiyev, who was ousted in a popular uprising in April, is reportedly being held in the UK. The interim Kyrgyzstan government accuses him of spending millions of dollars to finance the riots and has officially asked Britain to extradite him.

But he has apparently claimed asylum in the UK, and his request is being considered, according to BBC News.

The government believes Mr Bakiyev's allies wanted to derail a national referendum on constitutional reform scheduled for 27 June. Officials said on Tuesday the vote would go ahead, despite the violence.

The clashes are the worst ethnic violence to hit southern Kyrgyzstan since 1990, when several hundred people were killed. Kyrgyzstan was then part of the Soviet Union, which sent in troops to quell the unrest.

Ethnic Uzbeks make up about 15% of Kyrgyzstan's 5.5 million people.

Central Asia's patchwork of ethnic groups competing for wealth and resources in countries controlled by their rivals has been described by UN officials as a "tinder-box."