
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 6, 1990                   TAG: 9006060129
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MOSCOW                                LENGTH: Medium

ETHNIC VIOLENCE KILLS 11 AS GORBACHEV RETURNS

New ethnic rioting surged through the Central Asian city of Osh on Tuesday, and the Soviet media reported a state of emergency was imposed after 11 people were killed.

It was the latest outbreak of ethnic fighting in the Soviet Union and occurred as President Mikhail Gorbachev returned from his summit in the United States to face an array of domestic troubles.

Houses and cars were burned, and more than 200 people were reported injured in the clashes between Uzbeks and Kirghiz in Osh, a city on Kirghizia's border with Uzbekistan.

The fighting began Monday over a land dispute between the two predominantly Moslem ethnic groups. Soviet troops were unable to control the situation.

Battles continued Tuesday between groups numbering between 200 and 600, killing a master sergeant of Interior Ministry troops and a police cadet, the Interfax news agency reported.

Khalil Tashmatov, head of the Osh branch of the Interior Ministry, said in a telephone interview that Soviet troops were trying to maintain order, but "there aren't enough of them."

At least seven houses were set ablaze along with eight cars Monday night in the city of about 210,000, according to reports from Tass and Interfax.

At least 51 people were arrested, and a 10 p.m.-6 a.m. curfew was in force in Osh. Troops patrolled the streets, setting up roadblocks and guarded industrial sites, Tass and Interfax said.

Maj. Gen. Viktor Goncharov, the interior minister of Kirghizia, was appointed military commander of the region, they said.

The dispute reportedly centered on land claimed by both sides near the city, which has Central Asia's largest silk factory. Kirghizia is in the Tien Shan and Pamir mountains and borders western China.

A group of Kirghiz who wanted new housing occupied the land to begin constructing houses. Uzbeks, who make up 30 percent of the population, demanded they also receive land for housing, Tass said.

Housing is critically short in the republics of Central Asia. Earlier violence in the region was triggered in part by fears that the government planned to give apartments to refugees fleeing ethnic unrest elsewhere.

There has also been ethnic violence in Tadzhikistan, and Soviet soldiers remain in the republics of Armenia and Azerbaijan to control ethnic violence that has wracked the two republics for two years.

by CNB