The United Nations announced on Thursday that 400,000 people have been displaced by the ethnic violence in southern Kyrgyzstan. An estimated 100,000 refugees have fled to neighboring Uzbekistan. And there are around 300,000 internally displaced people either living with host families or still seeking shelter.

Thousands of Uzbeks remain fearful of returning home from the border areas and are waiting for a chance to enter camps in Uzbekistan.

Some humanitarian aid from Uzbekistan has been getting across the border to them, but it hasn't been enough.

International aid agencies say they have had difficulty getting aid to the Uzbeks in Kyrgyzstan.

Miroslav Jenca, UN Representative, said, "According to the news we get from the south, the situation is getting calmer. I would say that what is happening now in general there is a lot of tension, and it is still quite volatile. United Nations, we have sent just today in the morning a team headed by UN resident coordinator with his security advisers to assess the situation on the ground in Osh and in the surroundings in order to ensure humanitarian corridor, because humanitarian aid is coming there but it is quite difficult to deliver the aid in a proper way to the people who are suffering."

Kyrgyz authorities say some 160 tons of aid have been sent to Osh and Jalal-Abad. Both cities suffered serious damage in the rioting.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says security in Osh remains fragile with violence persisting in pockets on the city's edges.

On Thursday, residents of Jalal-Abad held an informal peace and reconciliation ceremony which was attended by both ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek men.

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