国际英语新闻：Kyrgyz official says half billion dollars needed to rebuild ravaged south

BISHKEK, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Kyrgyz officials said Thursday that about a half billion U.S. dollars will be needed to rebuild the southern areas of Kyrgyzstan that were ravaged in rioting last month.

An estimated 500 million dollars will be needed to reconstruct the basic infrastructure, housing, and social facilities in Osh and nearby Jalal-Abad, Temer Saraef, the deputy prime minister in charge of financial affairs, told a press conference.

The funds should be in place within one and a half years, and the government has decided to allocate 100 million dollars for the south, he said.

The government has drawn up a blueprint for Osh, envisioning to transform the devastated southern city into a cultural, tourist, medical, and sci-tech center.

Official figures show that an estimated 2,500 buildings, including 1,900 houses, in Osh were destroyed in arson attacks between June 10 and June 14.

At the news briefing, attended by some 100 foreign diplomats and delegates of international organizations, Saraef urged the international community to provide aid and support to the reconstruction efforts.

Riots in southern Kyrgyzstan that erupted after former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted in a popular uprising killed about 293 people and wounded 1,900 others

Acting Kyrgyz authorities accused the former leader of corruption, saying he and his supporters were attempting to destabilize the situation in the south.

Bakiyev, however, denied his alleged involvement in the unrest, blaming the interim government for not "mobilizing necessary resources and localizing the conflict."