B i s h k e k – There has been a significant response to the European Baptist Federation’s (EBF) appeal for aid for Kyrgyzstan’s needy. According to the Estonian, Helle Liht (Prague), Co-Coordinator of the European Baptist Aid umbrella organisation, nearly 20.000 euros for relief aid have already been donated. On 10 June, civil unrest between Kyrgyz and the Uzbek minority had broken out in a region close to the Uzbek border. Official reports state that 250 were killed; approximately 290.000 were made homeless. Many Uzbeks living in Kyrgyzstan were forced to flee into neighbouring Uzbekistan. Relief aid was purchased with funds from the Baptist World Alliance, the German Baptist Aid, the USA’s Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the EBF as well as the Baptist Unions of the Czech Republic, Spain and the Irish Baptist Networks.

In a letter addressed to the member unions, EBF General Secretary Tony Peck (Prague) had expressed his dismay regarding the violent unrest and requested immediate aid. The Baptist World Alliance’s Division of Freedom and Justice – the Alliance is based in Falls Church near Washington - called for prayer aimed at ending the violence.

A Russian three-person team visited the region of unrest recently and saw to it that funds donated by Western bodies did in fact reach the needy. After its return to Moscow, the team reported that Kyrgyz Baptists expressed great gratitude for the unexpected support. The Kyrgyz Baptist Union had withdrawn from the Baptist World Alliance and the European Baptist Federation in 2006, Genrikh (or Heinrich) Foth, the Kyrgyz Union’s President, expressed gratitude for the aid. The Russian team reported that all aid had been distributed “accurately and intelligently”. Only truly needed items were bought with the donated funds.

The Russian group visited the cities of Osh and Jalal-Abad – 1.500 houses had been destroyed alone in Osh. Hospitals were overflowing; unclean water and food were causing epidemics. Many Uzbeks remained traumatised by fear and were unwilling to move beyond their own ethnic quarters. Many therefore were without access to international aid. The guests were surprised to discover that the approximately 400 Protestants in this southern region had suffered relatively little through the unrest. None of their houses were damaged. On one street in Osh, every house was in ruins – except for one in which a Protestant family lived. The visitors from Moscow also expressed shock regarding the extent of violence. They wrote in a report: “It is senseless and horrible, that people have been killing others solely due to the fact that they had another ethnicity. And yet until yesterday these people had lived together peacefully as friendly neighbours.”

Roughly 70% of Kyrgyzstan’s population of 5,3 million are ethnic Kyrgyz; 14.5% are Uzbek and another 8,4% are Russian. The remainder consists of even smaller minorities. Approximately 75% of its residents are Muslim; another 20% belong to the Russian Orthodox Church. Evangelicals are only a tiny minority. The Baptist Union with its 3.100 members is among the strongest evangelical communities.