The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said Friday that the situation in Kyrgyzstan was improving.

It said the situation in Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan has improved with many small shops and banks opening up, traffic in circulation and farmers from neighboring provinces bringing in products.

However, food, shelter, non-food items and hygiene kits remain important needs, it said.

It is still tense and humanitarian workers are finding it difficult to reach all of those in need due to security concerns, OCHA noted.

A high-level UN delegation visited Osh on Thursday and met with the local authorities, non-governmental organizations and UN agencies.

OCHA said that in Osh, the interim government had registered a total of 2,200 tons of humanitarian relief, in addition to relief items that had not been registered by the authorities.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that amid the mass returns from Uzbekistan to Kyrgyzstan, its field officers had been visiting groups of returning refugees and displaced people near Osh and Jalalabad.

According to the Kyrgyz authorities, 70,000 refugees have returned so far.

UNHCR said that both refugees and internally displaced persons had expressed mixed feelings about going back; although they wanted to be reunited with their families, many were worried for their safety and about going back to destroyed, damaged or looted homes.