The situation in southern Kyrgyzstan, where at least 124 people have been killed in ethnic violence, shows tenuous signs of stabilising, a senior official in the interim government said on Monday.
"A tendency towards a beginning of stabilisation has been observed in Jalalabad and the Suzak region," the official, Azimbek Beknazarov, told journalists.
"There have been negotiations between heads of the Uzbek community, representatives of the government, Kyrgyz leaders and the military in Jalalbad, during which the various parties agreed to stop fighting," he said.
The deputy head of Kyrgyzstan's GSNB intelligence service, Kubatbek Baibolov, added that "the negotiations in Jalalabad ended in success."
Neither official referred to the main southern city of Osh, where the bulk of the fighting between ethnic Uzbeks and Kyrgyz has been taking place.
A government statement said earlier that "the death toll as a result of the events in the Jalalabad and Osh regions has reached 124 people" since Thursday, and another 1,685 have been wounded.
Officials in neighbouring Uzbekistan said tens of thousands of ethnic Uzbek refugees had fled across the border from Kyrgyzstan.
{{/usCountry}}Officials in neighbouring Uzbekistan said tens of thousands of ethnic Uzbek refugees had fled across the border from Kyrgyzstan.
{{/usCountry}}The provisional Kyrgyz government, which seized power in April riots, has so far failed to quell the violence.
It has given shoot-to-kill orders to police and military and called up all reservists in its efforts to stem bloodshed but is also appealing for military help from Russia.