German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle expressed his dismay today at the bloodshed in Kyrgyzstan, a day after President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was overthrown in a violent uprising, according to dpa. "I am shocked at the high number of dead and injured claimed by the unrest of the previous days in Kyrgyzstan," Westerwelle said in a statement. "I call upon those responsible to do everything to prevent further violence, plundering and bloodshed," the foreign minister said in Tanzania, during a four-day tour of Africa. Later in the day, Westerwelle and his Kazakh counterpart Kanat Saudabayev agreed during a joint telephone call on the need to reestablish law and order. "The country needs to find its way to security and stability as quickly as possible, in the framework of a constitutional and democratic system," Westerwelle said. The German Embassy in Kyrgyzstan - which is the only full representation of an European Union member state in the country - had taken on a coordinating role on behalf of all EU countries, the foreign office said. Saubadayev, who is also the current head of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), assured Westerwelle that his country would assist any foreign residents who wished to leave neighbouring Kyrgyzstan.
