Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan is quiet after the June explosion of Kyryze on Uzbek violence

Friends
The south of Kyrgyzstan is quiet after the June explosion of Kyryze on Uzbek violence, looting and burning that left over 2,000 ethnic Uzbeks dead and some 400,000 displaced. The United Nations and the Red Cross are involved but restoration will be slow and handicapped by corruption. Kyrgyze followers of Jesus report that it is difficult to reach out to Uzbeks with help due to retaliation from other Kyrgyze. Our prayer is that this Muslim on Muslim violence will cause truth seekers to turn to the Prince of Peace. This is what is happening in the Darfour area of Sudan where the violence of Arab Muslims against African Muslims has caused so much death and destruction. Many in Darfour are now turning to Jesus.

We pray the same for Kyrgyzstan! One of our friends in the south reports that as a result of the recent events they have been received in another seven villages. They have also baptized nine new followers of Jesus, report a lady healed of cancer and simply continue to do the stuff of the Kingdom through all the troubles.

A mature Kyrgyze brother from Bishkek joined the team in late 2009 and is now visiting twenty-eight houses in four provinces of Kyrgyzstan. Two of those have transitioned from houses of peace to house churches. He is grateful for the resources to travel and asks me to thank "all the brothers and sisters who sacrifice for the salvation of our nation."

Sergei in Tajikistan continues to pray for laborers and continues to raise them up from the harvest. However, the police seem to be increasing their persecution against him since many of his laborers are former addicts and prisoners without proper identification papers. Five brothers are now needing ID at a cost of $100 each. That is an enormous cost in a country where a day laborer may make $2.00 per day. If you would like to help, we can send you the photos of the men needing the papers. They would be very grateful.

The sister in Chymkent, Kazakhstan who leads the House of Mercy residence is an amazing lady. She goes into the rotting basements to find and share Jesus with the addicts. She drags them out, cleans them up and gets them established in the house. For income for the home and work for the brothers and sisters, she runs a maintenance/construction business servicing a large school in the city. Her team also just ran a camp for forty (mostly non believing) young people where Jesus moved in power to heal, deliver and save many.

The Russian and Kyrgyze versions of the Luke 10 Manual (The English version is on our website for you to read!) will soon need a second printing. A highly educated Uzbek brother who has been involved in Bible translation work for the past twenty years read that little manual and said, "This is the clearest presentation of the Kingdom of Jesus that I have ever read. It is stripped of all western and christian culture. This is a huge help in presenting Jesus and His kingdom in every culture but especially to my Muslim culture."

We and our friends in Central Asia are grateful for your friendship, prayers and financial support
Harvest Now!
Steve & Marilyn

Death toll is more than 2,000

Kyrgyze troops clearing the way for mobs of Kyrygze young men to burn and murder through Uzbek neighborhoods
Dear Friends, No doubt many of you have followed the news reports from Kyrgyzstan over the past couple of weeks. Interim President, Rosa Otunbayeva has said that the death toll is more than 2,000. Some 100,000 Uzbeks, mostly women and children including many wounded, fled across the border into Uzbekistan. They left with nothing- some not even wearing shoes. The UN estimates that there are 400,000 displaced people inside Kyrgyzstan. Eye witnesses speak of Kyrgyze troops clearing the way for mobs of Kyrygze young men to burn and murder through Uzbek neighborhoods and of seeing rows of bodies laid out in the streets.

These are tragic events. For Marilyn and I it has been very difficult to see the pictures of places where we have walked now charred ruins with bodies on the streets. Some have asked why this violence has happened amongst people who have lived together for generations.

The first reason has to do with the legacy of Stalin. In Central Asia, as in many other areas of the former Soviet Union, Stalin followed a policy of divide and control. He forcible placed Uzbek peoples on Kyrgyze lands so that now 15% of the five million population of Kyrgyzstan are Uzbek. They both speak a Turkman language and both share a Muslim religion but competition for scarce land and water resources create tension. With the fall of the Soviet Union, these tensions boiled over into the 1992 civil war. Calm was only restored by Russian troops. There is still bitterness from that conflict plus resentment at Uzbek control of the markets.

The second has to do with overthrow of the corrupt government of Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April. He is in exile but the south was his power base and many there want to restore him to power. Guns, money and drugs were handed out by his supporters and many believe that the violence was encouraged by police and army unites sympathetic to Bakiyev to create chaos and undermine the interim pro democracy government so that he could present himself as the only one who could restore order and so return to power. It seems criminal gangs were also involved in promoting and exploiting chaos to further their activities.

Whatever the whole truth , it is clear that evil, hatred and fear ran unrestrained and many lives were destroyed. So far as we know all of our friends, including Uzbeks are safe. There is a relief effort underway and much work to do. We are not a relief organization but we do want to support our friends there through prayer and finance so that they can continue to minister the grace and life of Jesus to all. We need your help to do so.

Steve & Marilyn Hill

Kyrgyzstan Facts

Poulation:
5.4 Million

Ethnic Groups:
Kyrgyz 64.9%, Uzbek 13.8%, Russian 12.5%, Dungan 1.1%, Ukrainian 1%, Uyghur 1%, other 5.7% (1999 census)

Religions:
Muslim 75%, Russian Orthodox 20%, other 5%

Background:
A Central Asian country of incredible natural beauty and proud nomadic traditions, most of Kyrgyzstan was formally annexed to Russia in 1876. The Kyrgyz staged a major revolt against the Tsarist Empire in 1916 in which almost one-sixth of the Kyrgyz population was killed. Kyrgyzstan became a Soviet republic in 1936 and achieved independence in 1991 when the USSR dissolved. Nationwide demonstrations in the spring of 2005 resulted in the ouster of President Askar AKAEV, who had run the country since 1990. Subsequent presidential elections in July 2005 were won overwhelmingly by former prime minister Kurmanbek BAKIEV. The political opposition organized demonstrations in Bishkek in April, May, and November 2006 resulting in the adoption of a new constitution that transferred some of the president's powers to parliament and the government. In December 2006, the Kyrgyzstani parliament voted to adopt new amendments, restoring some of the presidential powers lost in the November 2006 constitutional change. By late-September 2007, both previous versions of the constitution were declared illegal, and the country reverted to the AKAEV-era 2003 constitution, which was subsequently modified in a flawed referendum initiated by BAKIEV. The president then dissolved parliament, called for early elections, and gained control of the new parliament through his newly-created political party, Ak Jol, in December 2007 elections. In July 2009, after months of harassment against his opponents and media critics, BAKIEV won re-election in a presidential campaign that the international community deemed flawed. Just a few months later in October, BAKIEV engineered changes in the government structure that further consolidated his already considerable hold on power. Current concerns include: privatization of state-owned enterprises, negative trends in democracy and political freedoms, endemic corruption, improving interethnic relations, electricity generation, and combating terrorism. (source: World Factbook - CIA)