US hardens stance on Uzbekistan

[achilles]

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 unarmed protesters in Andijan on Friday.

The US has been under pressure to take a tough line against the Uzbek regime.

President Islam Karimov has blamed the unrest on Islamic extremists.

His government is a key US ally in the region - the US has a base in Uzbekistan, which is used by coalition troops engaged in Afghanistan. Full article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4553167.stm)

[achilles]

Uzbek special troops kill dozens of civilians in Andijan (http://english.pravda.ru/world/20/92/373/15468_andijan.html)

[Pandy]

I wonder why the UN hasn't sent peacekeepers yet...

[GazB]

I wonder why the UN hasn't sent peacekeepers yet...

For the same reason the UN didn't send peacekeepers after Tianamin square incident. There is no actual war so the UN would only go in if asked by the government of that country.

Besides the US has been ignoring any problems in that country just like they ignore human rights violations in places like Kuwaite and Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The US has air bases in Uzbekistan and it needs them to support the actions in Afghanistan.

[<Gypsum Fantastic>]

Sad but true. This is a prime example of an unjust leadership getting away with it because they are friends with the right people.

[Clearday-TRForce]

If the reports of more than 700 deaths since Friday hold true and if Uzbek forces were behind the killing -- as most reports indicate -- the crackdown would be among the most violent in Asia since the massacre of protesters in China's Tiananmen Square in 1989

ANDIJAN - The Associated Press

Gunfire persisted on Monday in the eastern city where Uzbek security forces fired on protesters last week -- a clash that reportedly left several hundred dead -- and new reports emerged that violence in nearby towns killed hundreds more, further threatening the stability of the government.
The spreading unrest in a region bordering Kyrgyzstan -- the worst since Uzbekistan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 -- also left 11 people dead in clashes on Sunday in a third town and sparked a rampage by residents in a fourth on Saturday, witnesses said.

The government of President Islam Karimov has denied opening fire on demonstrators as witnesses have claimed, but the authoritarian government has sought to restrict 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 the 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 on Friday.

Bloody crackdown:If the reports of more than 700 deaths since Friday hold true and if Uzbek forces were behind the killing -- as most reports indicate -- the crackdown would be among the most violent in Asia since the massacre of protesters in China's Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Saidjahon Zaynabitdinov, head of the local Appeal human rights advocacy group, said on Monday that government troops had killed about 200 demonstrators on Saturday in Pakhtabad, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) northeast of Andijan.

There was no independent confirmation of his claim.

That fighting would have come a day after the violence in Andijan, when government troops put down an uprising by alleged Islamic militants and citizens protesting dire economic conditions.

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

Alexei Volosevich, an Andijan correspondent for the Fergana.ru Web site, said witnesses told him that militants fired at police from the attics of apartment buildings near the city 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. Piles of sandbags used as defenses in the fighting dotted the streets.

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

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

Karimov has blamed Islamic extremists for the violence.

Zaynabitdinov reiterated the protesters' contention that they were not aiming to overthrow the government, but simply wanted to air their grievances.

"The demonstrators did not have any claims to power. It was just an outpouring of people's feelings. People were driven out into the streets," he said.

In the capital Tashkent, several rights activists and opposition politicians laid flowers at a monument to commemorate the victims of violence in Andijan. They were surrounded by scores of uniformed police and plainclothes security agents, who didn't, however, prevent them from talking to reporters.

Participants accused Karimov of giving orders to shoot at the crowd in Andijan - a charge denied by the president, who blamed the violence on alleged Islamic extremists.

"It's clear that they wouldn't have opened fire without an order from the top," said Inera Safargaliyeva, the head of the Committee for Freedom of Speech and Expression. "About 500 people were killed."

Prosecutor General's office spokeswoman Svetlana Artikova said Monday that her office had launched a criminal investigation on charges of staging riots in Andijan. She refused to comment on the number of people arrested. No charges have been filed yet.

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

Namangani was believed to have been killed in Afghanistan in 2001 or 2002, but reports have recently surfaced in the valley suggesting he is alive.

More violence:

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

Kyrgyz border guards spokeswoman Gulmira Borubayeva said that 150 Uzbek citizens had tried to cross into Kyrgyzstan near the Uzbek village of Ayim late Sunday, but Kyrgyz border guards refused to let them in because they tried to enter Kyrgyzstan bypassing existing border crossings.

In another border community, Korasuv, an estimated 5,000 people went on a rampage Saturday and forced authorities to restore a bridge across a river that marks the border with Kyrgyzstan. Residents saw the government's closing of the bridge more than two years ago as a move to deny them access to the better economy and more open politics of Kyrgyzstan.

"It was a popular uprising. There were no terrorists here, just ordinary people," said Furkat Yuldashev, 32, standing with other townspeople near the bridge.

"It's necessary to get this ruler out," said a 75-year-old man named Umarjon-Aka, dressed in a traditional black robe and dark blue hat.

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, U.S. authorities have only called on both sides to work out their differences peacefully.


regards.

[achilles]

Thousands flee Uzbekistan as the uprising reaches other towns (http://english.pravda.ru/accidents/21/96/382/15474_uprising.html)

[Ichhabe]

I wonder why the UN hasn't sent peacekeepers yet...

:cantbeli:

[Clearday-TRForce]

I wonder why the UN hasn't sent peacekeepers yet...

:cantbeli:


x2 :cantbeli: huh? peace what?

[achilles]

THe UN is something like a switch. It flips from 'on' to 'off' and back, when this suits us :lol:

[Geezah]

I wonder why the UN hasn't sent peacekeepers yet...

Because they've finally accepted the fact they are useless ;)

[achilles]

I wonder why the UN hasn't sent peacekeepers yet...

Because they've finally accepted the fact they are useless ;)

...as long as we are all armed ;)



p-)

[Pandy]

I wonder why the UN hasn't sent peacekeepers yet...

Because they've finally accepted the fact they are useless ;)

...as long as we are all armed ;)



p-)

aman.

[Geezah]

I wonder why the UN hasn't sent peacekeepers yet...

Because they've finally accepted the fact they are useless ;)

...as long as we are all armed ;)



p-)

aman.

No......not everyone, just us :P

[Kilgor]

Kofi doesnt get out of bed for at least 500k deaths and then you have to wait a year or so for the paperwork to clear.

[GazB]

Kofi doesnt get out of bed for at least 500k deaths and then you have to wait a year or so for the paperwork to clear.

No it has more to do with the members of the UNSC than who heads the UN at any one time. Hense France and UK didn't like fighting in Europe so Kosovo was a UN issue without 500K killed, but Rwanda means nothing to any UNSC members so it went unnoticed for quote some time despite reports of more than three times 500K killed.