Almost all the refugees who fled Kyrgyzstan during ethnic clashes and crossed the border into Uzbekistan have now returned, the deputy head of the country's border service said on Thursday.
"Around 70,000 refugees have already returned to Kyrgyzstan," Cholponbek Turusbekov told journalists. "Only yesterday around 26,000 refugees returned."
The Kyrgyz border service has said 75,000 Kyrgyz citizens fled to Uzbekistan during this month's violence, as gangs looted and burnt down the homes of the large ethnic Uzbek population in the country's south.
International aid groups have put the number at more than 100,000, however.
Large-scale unrest has ceased in the southern region, where officials say up to 2000 people may have been killed during the ethnic clashes between the majority Kyrgyz and minority Uzbek populations.
US aid
Meanwhile, the United States has promised to send $US 48.3 million worth of aid to ease the humanitarian crisis and help with reconstruction in the wake of political unrest.
The State Department says these funds will be directed to meeting immediate humanitarian needs, providing assistance to displaced and returning families.
It says the funds will also go toward addressing the roots of the conflict through community development and conflict mitigation programs in the southern regions of the Kyrgyz Republic.
