Uzbek unrest spreads, toll 700

rediff.com ^ | 05/16/05 | Alexander Merkushev

[TigerLikesRooster]

Uzbek unrest spreads, toll 700

Alexander Merkushev in Andijan, Uzbekistan | May 16, 2005 16:03 IST

Unrest spread through eastern Uzbekistan after a crackdown by security forces left up to 500 dead in Andijan, with disturbances reaching three other towns?- including one that reportedly left 200 dead.

The clashes in the region bordering Kyrgyzstan were the worst since Uzbekistan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

President Islam Karimov's government has denied opening fire on demonstrators as witnesses have claimed, instead blaming Islamic extremists for the violence. The authoritarian government has restricted access for reporters in the affected areas.

But if the reports of more than 700 deaths since Friday hold true, and if Uzbek forces were behind the killing -- as most reports indicate --it would be some of the worst state-inspired bloodshed since the massacre of protesters in China's Tiananmen Square in 1989.

500 killed in Uzbek unrest

Saidjahon Zaynabitdinov, head of the local Appeal human rights advocacy group, said Monday that government troops had killed about 200 demonstrators on Saturday in Pakhtabad, about 20 miles northeast of Andijan. There was no independent confirmation of his claim.

That violence would have come a day after some 500 people reportedly were killed in Andijan --Uzbekistan's fourth-largest city --when government troops put down a prison uprising by alleged Islamic militants and citizens protesting dire economic conditions.

Andijan remained tense on Monday after gunfire continued throughout the night. Residents said government troops were fighting militants in an outlying district, but the claim could not be confirmed.

Alexei Volosevich, an Andijan correspondent for the Fergana.ru Web site, said witnesses told him that militants fired at police from apartment buildings near the prison and that police eventually killed the assailants. There was no word about police casualties.

Troops and armored personnel carriers formed a tight circle around the city center, where the local administration building --at the center of Friday's violence --was on fire late Sunday.

Men were digging what appeared to be a large common grave at a local cemetery under the watch of Uzbek security service agents.

"The people now are more afraid of government troops than of any so-called militants," Zaynabitdinov told Associated Press Television News.

Armed crowd frees Uzbek prisoners

In a separate clash Sunday in the border town of Teshiktosh, eight soldiers and three civilians were killed and hundreds of Uzbeks fled into neighboring Kyrgyzstan, witnesses said.

In another border community, Korasuv, an estimated 5,000 people went on a rampage on Saturday and forced authorities to restore a bridge across a river that marks the border with Kyrgyzstan.

The violence puts the United States in a difficult position because it relies on Karimov's government for an air base in the country and anti-terrorism support. So far US authorities have only called on both sides to work out their differences peacefully.

(Associated Press reporters Bagila Bukharbayeva and Burt Herman contributed to this report from eastern Uzbekistan).

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[cardinal4]

Thank you, Newsweek..

[Wiz]

I don't mean to support the protests, but if the government was to fall and be under hands of Taliban, maybe that would be a good chance to educate the Uzbeks that theorcracy will not succeed. It seems that Muslims would have to go through at least once through theocracy to understand it will be not something the people favor, as it has been in Afghanistan and Iran. The Afghanis have gone through the process and now understand theocracy will only lead to a failure. It may be the Uzbeks turn to go through this process of no pain no gain. When the time comes, then US may liberate Uzbeks from the theocracy with force.

[Amalie]

No, I would have to disagree that this would be beneficial, and I think several million Iranians who have lived under a theocratic regime would, too.

[Wiz]

I have heard voices from Iranians, and sought a phenomenom of pro-Americanism. Meanwhile there are several factors for this, the Iranians have sought the harasses of the current regime that replaced the previous regime of Shah which have made them regret about the revolution. In Afghanistan, the people also sought the harasses of the Taliban, even the Taliban regime was a result of the war. Meanwhile, when we look at Uzbekistan, we see the Islamist motivation as Islamist clerics have been released from prison. When we look at the difference between Iran, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan, we see that the Uzbekistan has not been under the harasses of Islamist regime which Iran and Anfghanistan has experienced, at least in decades. In fact, some Muslims in Central Asia region believe that the situation will improve if a theocracy will be created. On the other hand, Afghanis and Iranians seem to have stepped away from supporting this for their experience of Islamist regime. You cannot tell the taste of food until you take a bite, even the food seems to be delicious. Once again, I don't mean to support it but this may be necessary evil for the Uzbeks to feel the pain to understand the reality that theocracy will lead them nowhere. What else will let them understand the reality?

[Evolution]

Currently we have bases in Uzbekistan it would be too expensive to have to leave just to teach the Uzbeks a lesson. LEt them live under the oppressive regime they deserve!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Update from the AP via Las Vegas Sun:

Gunfire Persists in Eastern Uzbek City

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Today: May 16, 2005 at 11:17:30 PDT

Gunfire Persists in Eastern Uzbek City

By ALEXANDER MERKUSHEV
ASSOCIATED PRESS

ANDIJAN, Uzbekistan (AP) -

0516uzbek Gunfire persisted Monday in the eastern city where Uzbek security forces fired on protesters last week - a clash that reportedly left several hundred dead - and new accounts emerged that violence in nearby towns killed hundreds more, further threatening the stability of the government in this key U.S. ally in Central Asia.

Andijan residents said government troops were fighting militants in an outlying district, but that claim could not be confirmed.

Alexei Volosevich, an Andijan correspondent for the Fergana.ru Web site, said witnesses told him that militants fired at police from apartment buildings near the prison and that police eventually killed the assailants. There was no word about police casualties.

Troops and armored personnel carriers formed a tight circle around the city center, where the local administration building - at the center of Friday's violence - was on fire late Sunday.

Saidjahon Zaynabitdinov, head of the local Appeal human rights advocacy group, said Monday that government troops killed about 200 demonstrators Saturday in Pakhtabad, about 20 miles northeast of Andijan. There was no independent confirmation of his claim.

Men were digging graves, including what appeared to be a large common grave, at a local cemetery under the watch of Uzbek security agents.

"The people now are more afraid of government troops than of any so-called militants," Zaynabitdinov told Associated Press Television News.

The violence puts the United States in a difficult position because it relies on Karimov's government for an air base in the country and anti-terrorism support.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday the United States was "still trying to understand" what happened in Andijan.

"The main preoccupations are now to encourage everybody to forgo any further violence, to help with the refugees that went into Kyrgystan out of Uzbekistan, and to try to deal with the consequences right now of this set of issues," she said.

The violence in Pakhtabad would have come a day after some 500 people reportedly were killed in Andijan - Uzbekistan's fourth-largest city - when government troops put down a prison uprising by alleged Islamic militants and citizens protesting dire economic conditions.

The clashes in the region bordering Kyrgyzstan were the worst since Uzbekistan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. If the reports of hundreds of deaths since Friday hold true and if Uzbek forces were behind the killing - as most reports indicate - it would be some of the worst state-inspired bloodshed since the massacre of protesters in China's Tiananmen Square in 1989.

President Islam Karimov's government has denied opening fire on demonstrators, instead blaming Islamic extremists for the violence. The authoritarian government has restricted access for reporters in the affected areas.

A respected local doctor in Andijan told The Associated Press on Sunday that about 500 bodies had been laid out at a school for collection by relatives. There was no independent confirmation of that claim by the doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fears for her safety, but other witnesses have said hundreds were killed when troops put down the uprising Friday.

The doctor also said by telephone that about 2,000 people were wounded, but she did not say how she arrived at her estimate.

Inera Safargaliyeva, whose Committee for Freedom of Speech and Expression helped organize Friday's demonstration, also said about 500 people were killed. She did not elaborate on the source of her information.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw condemned the violent crackdown and demanded that journalists, the Red Cross and ambassadors be given access to the affected areas.

"We remain very concerned about the accounts we have received about troops opening fire on civilians in Andijan," Straw said in London. "This plainly cannot be justified."

In the capital Tashkent, rights activists and opposition politicians laid flowers Monday at a memorial to those killed in Andijan. They were surrounded by uniformed police and plainclothes security agents but allowed to talk to reporters.

Prosecutor General's office spokeswoman Svetlana Artikova said her office had launched a criminal investigation into the demonstration in Andijan. She would not comment on the number of people arrested.

Channel One state television aired a report praising Karimov and accusing militants in Andijan of firing at civilians. Khushnudbek Matmusayev, a medical doctor, told Channel One that militants fired at an ambulance, killing two medics and a driver.

The report showed broken furniture and equipment, and bloodstains inside the administration building, which was occupied by armed protesters. It also showed scattered syringes and suggested that militants were using drugs.

A U.N. official, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of compromising his position, said government troops concentrated Monday near Namangan, the site of the regional airport and a major transport hub in the Fergana Valley. Namangan also is the birthplace of Juma Namangani, the leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a Taliban-allied group that was fighting to establish an Islamic state in the valley.

Namangani was believed to have been killed in Afghanistan in 2001 or 2002, but recent reports in the valley suggest he may still be alive.

In a clash Sunday in Teshiktosh, eight soldiers and three civilians were killed and hundreds of Uzbeks fled into Kyrgyzstan, witnesses said.

Kyrgyz border guards spokeswoman Gulmira Borubayeva said 150 Uzbek citizens tried to cross near the Uzbek village of Ayim late Sunday, but Kyrgyz border guards turned them back.

The U.N. official said he had received reports about a skirmish in the same area Monday between Uzbek militants and Uzbek government forces. Borubayeva said her agency was not aware of such an incident but was checking into it. Security measures at the border were reinforced after events in Andijan, she said.

Thousands of terrified refugees converged on a border crossing at the village of Barash, about 30 miles north of Andijan. More than 500 made it to Kyrgyzstan and then set up a tent camp in a nearby field.

A U.N. refugee agency team that inspected the camp in the Suzak region said most of the 560 Uzbeks who arrived there Saturday were men. The agency said 18 were wounded.

Borubayeva said Monday that 537 Uzbek residents crossed the border seeking help.

Karimov, viewed as one of the most authoritarian leaders still in control of a former Soviet republic, cut his political teeth under the old communist system which brooked no civil disobedience. Before the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991, many regional leaders ordered military or police attacks against their own people when they massed in protest in places like Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

---

Associated Press reporters Bagila Bukharbayeva and Burt Herman in eastern Uzbekistan contributed to this report.

--

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

And from the BBC:

US hardens stance on Uzbekistan

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Last Updated: Monday, 16 May, 2005, 17:47 GMT 18:47 UK

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US hardens stance on Uzbekistan

The US says it is "deeply disturbed" by reports that troops in Uzbekistan fired on unarmed civilians during a protest in the east of the country.

It called on the Uzbek government to allow the International Red Cross full access to the part of the country affected by recent protests.

Local sources say several hundred people died when troops shot at protesters in Andijan on Friday.

Uzbek President Islam Karimov blamed the unrest on Islamic extremists.

US state department spokesman Richard Boucher said that stability in Uzbekistan depended on the government addressing human rights issues and the rule of law.

However, he also condemned violent protesters who had stormed government buildings.

Human rights organisations and a leading US Republican Congressman, Dana Rohrabacher, have called on the Bush administration to condemn Mr Karimov.

[SierraWasp]

"Namangan also is the birthplace of Juma Namangani, the leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a Taliban-allied group that was fighting to establish an Islamic state in the valley."

This is what jumped out at me!!!

[SierraWasp]

"Human rights organisations and a leading US Republican Congressman, Dana Rohrabacher, have called on the Bush administration to condemn Mr Karimov."

I sure hope Dana knows what the heck he's talking about. He doesn't always, ya know...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

He's my Rep though!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Guess we opught to have a map here:

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Links:

Central Asia: At-a-glance

[KC_Conspirator]

People continue to die because of Newsweaks lie, but isikoff still has a job.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Just to be clear, I don't think any of this unrest is about that ITEM!!!

[SierraWasp]

Where's "Get a new plan Stan?"

[Lukasz]

Currently we have bases in Uzbekistan it would be too expensive to have to leave just to teach the Uzbeks a lesson. LEt them live under the oppressive regime they deserve!

??? Rather you deserve!

[Evolution]

Rather you deserve!

Last time I checked I dont riot and go crazy trying to free terrorists from prisons.

[nuconvert]

"LEt them live under the oppressive regime they deserve!"

Huh? What makes you think they deserve it?