As the Kyrgyz interim government is maneuvering to restore order and stability in the country's chaotic southern cities, the international assistance becomes apparently essential and needy.

The violence, which began last Thursday and escalated over the weekend, has put the death toll to at least 124 and injured another 1,685, according to the latest figures released by the Central Asian nation's health department.

Meanwhile, the neighboring Uzbekistan has already received 45,000 adults refugees from Kyrgyzstan and decided to close its borders for the time being.

"Today we will stop accepting refugees from the Kyrgyz side because we have no place to accommodate them and no capacity to cope with them," said Uzbek Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Aripov.

He asked the international community to provide assistance for those seeking safety in his country, adding that "If we have the ability to help them and to treat them of course we will open the border."

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday an estimate of 80,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in Kyrgyzstan due to ethnic clashes which started last week.

The agency added it had launched a preliminary emergency appeal for 10 million Swiss francs (about 8.8 million U.S. dollars) to assist some 100,000 people affected in the brutal violence in the next month.

"The situation in Jalalabad has worsened considerably over the past 24 hours. It is very dangerous," said ICRC spokesman Pierre-Emmanuel Ducruet.

However, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz interim government Azimbek Beknadzarov said on Monday that a tendency toward a beginning of stabilization has been observed in Jalalabad city and the Suzak region.

He said the conflicting parties in some areas of southern Kyrgyzstan had agreed to stop fighting and signed agreements to disarm and organize joint patrol to prevent sabotage and new clashes.

(Xinhua News Agency June 15, 2010)