Uzbekistan Riot Put Down in Bloody Way

The rebellion initiated against Uzbek leader Islam Karimov in the Fergana Valley has been put down violently; however, tension remains in the country.

While it is reported that "trucks of corpses" have driven through the streets of the city of Andijan, the director of a human rights organization told Reuters that the death toll may be about 500. Yesterday, unrest sporadically broke out in village Karasu on Kyrgyzstan's border as well. Demonstrators set the police station and the tax office on fire and damaged police vehicles in the village. Observers note that the rebellion in Andijan might be a turning point for Karimov and harder days await the Uzbek government, which is accused of human rights violations. It is feared that the flight of 600 people over the border to Kyrgyzstan, and Karimov's claims of "extern! al links", could cause the tension to erupt between the two countries. Informing Russian President Vladimir Putin about the developments, Karimov said that the situation has been "normalized".

No reliable information can be obtained about what has been happening in Andijan, which has a population of 300,000. It is surrounded by soldiers and isolated from the rest of the world. While the army has forced six journalists to leave the city due to "security reasons", two Russian journalists trying to enter the city have been taken into custody. It is not possible to make a connection with the city via landline telephones. Ýt was also learned that the price of bread has tripled in the city. Karimov alleged that the rioting was organized by the Hizb ut-Tahrir group and asserted that he has begun work for democratic restructuring. Imran Wahid, a Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesperson in London announced that they have no links with the incidents of violence. Organizing a press conference in Tashkent, Karimov said that the violence was "completely" under control; however, many eyewitnesses inform that hundreds of bodies were put on trucks and taken to unknown places at night and e! arly in the morning. Human rights worker Lutfulla Shamsutdinov told Agence France-Presse yesterday: 'This morning I saw three trucks and a bus onto which 300 dead bodies were being loaded by soldiers. At least one third of the bodies were women.' Another eyewitness named Bahadir told reporters he saw between 300 and 400 dead bodies. Saidzhakhon Zainatbitdinov, the local head of an Uzbek human rights group, Appeal, told Reuters by phone from the eastern town: "The total number of deaths could reach 500 from both sides."

15.05.2005
Mirza Cetinkaya
Moscow
http://www.zaman.com/?bl=international&hn=19546