Only three months after assuming the OSCE chairmanship, Slovenia faced a major challenge in mediating in the political crisis in Kyrgyzstan. OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, sent his personal representative for Central Asia, Alojz Peterle, to the country to help calm the situation, but Peterle himself became target of the protesting crowd.
Rupel on 22 March discussed the situation with Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev over the telephone. OSCE envoy Peterle on 24 March held talks with Foreign Minister Askar Aitmatov in Bishkek, who confirmed the government's readiness to talk to the political opposition just as protesters seized the presidential and government headquarters. When leaving the building, Peterle was himself target of the protesters, as the OSCE car was attacked with stones and bats. Rupel meanwhile held telephone conversations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice over the issue, underscoring the need for the restoration of order in Kyrgyzstan and for dialogue between all sides, leading to new elections.
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