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International Condemnation of Uzbek Killings

Angelique van Engelen - 5/19/2005

The situation in Uzbekistan is said to be critical in the wake of the crushed riots in Andijan in the Islamic stronghold of the Ferghana valley. Government troops have closed off the town to prevent protestors to travel to the capital Tashkent. Borders with two neighboring countries are also closed. Islam Karimov, the country's leader, is known to be the strictest of the Central Asian republics' leaders and it is unlikely that he will pay heed to comments by the international community to relax his rule.

Reports from people living in Uzbekistan have indicated for months that life in the entire province of Andijan is precarious. In the wake of the revolution in neighboring Kyrgyzstan, the authorities in Tashkent have done whatever was in their power to calm their population.

Now that speculation is rife that huge numbers of the protestors have been killed -some say as many as 700 people have been brutally murdered- in the strong crushing move by government forces, it appears that the authorities are letting go of whatever pretense to civilized government they still made. Journalists have been ousted from the city where the bloodshed took place and it's sealed off hermetically. The BBC reports that journalists forced to leave the city saw more than 30 police checkpoints on the main road to the capital, Tashkent.

The UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who set off to Washington to meet senior administration figures, including secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, is likely to raise the issue again, after calling on Uzbek authorities to end their actions that "plainly cannot be justified" during a news conference Monday at which he also demanded immediate access to Andijan for people working for the International Red Cross, foreign diplomats and journalists.

The trigger to the protests in Andijan was a trial of local businessmen who were accused of Islamic extremism, which throngs of protesters claimed was unfair in what were at first peaceful and later violent demonstrations lasting for more than two days. According to eye witnesses, government forces opened fire on the protesters, on the second day, killing many of them, possibly numbers in the hundreds. The Uzbek government claims the shootings were aimed at armed men from a radical Islamist group.

Andijan was said to be calm Sunday, but the eastern border town of Korasuv had gone through pretty much similar violent scenes aimed directly at the government the day before. Protestors, in what looked like a repeat of the events in Kyrgyzstan last March, stormed government buildings. But unlike in Kyrgyzstan, where the government more or less stuck to its pledges not to use violence, the Uzbek authorities are not shy to assert their power. They sealed off this town too.

The events might finally end the sick relationship between the Uzbek government, which is known internationally to be among the worst human rights abusers in the world, and the US, which in light of its war on terror has been cooperating with Karimov irregardless of this. The US has an air force base in the country.

The United Nations even has conducted an inquiry in 2002 to investigate incidents of torture carried out by the Karimov regime and concluded that Karimov's forces were engaging in systematic torture which often led to death. Diplomats say that the torture practices have occurred even under the auspices of the US and UK regimes, when during the war on terror suspected terrorists would be flown to Uzbekistan for 'questioning'. Human rights groups have said for years that the Uzbek regime says that its islamist groupings need a strong hand when in fact it is crushing innocent citizens that are demanding to be able to exercise their democratic rights.

The treatment of 23 businessmen in Andijan that were on trial for alleged membership of the extremist group Akramia, which is accused of uniting followers of jailed Uzbek Islamic dissident Akram Yuldashev, is a clear example of this, observers say. This leader is accused of having called for the overthrow of Islam Karimov. Yet Arkamia members deny the accusation is based on truth.

It has long been known that thousands of people are in jailed in Uzbekistan on suspicion of being members of outlawed radical Islamic parties. These also include Hizbut Tahrir, a movement that is believed to have inspired its followers to launch bomb attacks throughout the country. Over 50 people died last year in the attacks. The group, which claims to eschew violence, denied responsibility.

Members of the Akramia group more or less power the rest of Andijan's economy and thousands of citizens are dependent on them for their livelyhood in a literal sense. Every time there's civil unrest in the region, government troops are quick to close off borders to neigboring Kyrgysztan and Kazachstan, who the Andijan people trade with. In 1999, they even planted landmines in the ground to prevent their home grown terrorist groups from crossing the border illegally.

The border closures lead directly to economic hardship in the Andijan province, because traders are prevented from going to the Kyrgyz border town of Kara-Suu, where cheap Chinese made goods are sold wholesale.

It is very unlikely that the uprising in Andijan is going to have the same effect as the rebellion on the Kyrgyz side of the border, which started also in the Ferghana valley and which ended in a regime change.

Besides the UK, other countries also condemned the Uzbek government's way of dealing with the protestors, with US Secretary of State Condolleezza Rice openly calling for 'a less closed political system', and EU officials saying that the events were a direct result from which the government's failure to respect human rights and the rule of law. So far no country has threatened to sever economic ties.