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By Sebastian Hirsch
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Tuesday, 17 May 2005 |
 After a bloodbath in Andijan on Friday, which claimed hundreds of lives, the situation in Uzbekistan's Fergana region remains extremely tense. Violence broke out after soldiers disrupted a demonstration by firing into the crowd from armored vehicles.
Before these events, there were repeated peaceful demonstrations in Andijan, where people gathered to protest the imprisonment of 23 prominent businessmen, accused of belonging to an Islamic extremist group. Armed insurgents stormed the prison on Thursday night, freeing about 2000 criminals, including the businessmen.
 They later seized several other government buildings and took hostages in the local government headquarters. Security forces tried to negotiate with them, however, as the negotiations failed, they started to fire upon unarmed citizens. About 10,000 people had meanwhile assembled in the central city square and called for the resignation of the president, Islam Karimov. According to official sources, 9 people were killed and 34 wounded.
Human Rights organizations and Western reporters, however, are speaking of at least 300 deaths. Dozens of bodies were openly lying in the streets before they were loaded into trucks and taken away by soldiers. Information is scarce because reporters are denied access to the region. Furthermore, foreign news sources are cut or censored, effectively leading to a news blackout in Fergana and Uzbekistan.
 As a reaction to the bloodshed, many people are fleeing to neighboring Kyrgyzstan. Some witnesses said that they were shot at by Uzbek troops while trying to cross the border. Islam Karimov, the Uzbek president, blames the Kyrgyz government for spurring the unrest. In a press conference in Tashkent, he stated that he had not given any 'order to shoot' on civilians.
Meanwhile, the former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, put some blame on Western governments. Speaking with The Independent on Sunday, he said that the Uzbek people are now resorting to violence because the U.S. and the U.K. failed to support the opposition movement. Murray was suspended from his office last year after accusing his own government for condoning torture in Uzbek jails.
Laziz Alidjanov contributed to this article. |
