[Peace-discuss] Uzbekistan

[David Green]

Comparative coverage from London Observor and NYT:

Published on Sunday, May 15, 2005 by the Observer/UK 

Anger as US Backs Regime

Human rights concerns as troops put down uprising in
Uzbekistan 

by Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow and Paul Harris in New
York 

Heated criticism was growing last night over 'double
standards' by Washington over human rights, democracy
and 'freedom' as fresh evidence emerged of just how
brutally Uzbekistan, a US ally in the 'war on terror',
put down Friday's unrest in the east of the country. 
Outrage among human rights groups followed claims by
the White House on Friday that appeared designed to
justify the violence of the regime of President Islam
Karimov, claiming - as Karimov has - that 'terrorist
groups' may have been involved in the uprising. 
Critics said the US was prepared to support
pro-democracy unrest in some states, but condemn it in
others where such policies were inconvenient. 
Witnesses and analysts familiar with the region said
most protesters were complaining about government
corruption and poverty, not espousing Islamic
extremism. 
The US comments were seized on by Karimov, who said
yesterday that the protests were organized by Hizb
ut-Tahrir, an Islamic group often accused by Tashkent
of seditious extremism. Yet Washington, which has
expressed concern over the group's often hardline
message, has yet to designate it a terrorist group. 
Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, tried to
deflect accusations of the contradictory stance when
he said it was clear the 'people of Uzbekistan want to
see a more representative and democratic government.
But that should come through peaceful means, not
through violence.' 
Washington has often been accused of being involved in
a conspiracy of silence over Uzbekistan's human rights
record since that country was declared an ally in the
'war on terror' in 2001. 
Uzbekistan is believed to be one of the destination
countries for the highly secretive 'renditions
program', whereby the CIA ships terrorist suspects to
third-party countries where torture is used that
cannot be employed in the US. Newspaper reports in
America say dozens of suspects have been transferred
to Uzbek jails. 
The CIA has never officially commented on the program.
But flight logs obtained by the New York Times earlier
this month show CIA-linked planes landing in Tashkent
with the same serial numbers as jets used to transfer
prisoners around the world. The logs show at least
seven flights from 2002 to late 2003, originating from
destinations in the Middle East and Europe. 
Other countries used in the program include Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and Morocco. A handful of
prisoners' accounts - including that of Canadian Maher
Arar - that emerged after release show they were
tortured and abused in custody. 
Critics say the US double standards are evident on the
State Department website, which accuses Uzbek police
and security services of using 'torture as a routine
investigation technique' while giving the same law
enforcement services $79 million in aid in 2002. The
department says officers who receive training are
vetted to ensure they have not tortured anyone. 
The aid paradox was highlighted by the former British
Ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, who criticized
coalition support for Uzbekistan when they were
planning invading Iraq, using similar abuses as
justification. 
Murray said yesterday: 'The US will claim that they
are teaching the Uzbeks less repressive interrogation
techniques, but that is basically not true. They help
fund the budget of the Uzbek security services and
give tens of millions of dollars in military support.
It is a sweetener in the agreement over which they get
their air base.' 
Murray said that during a series of suicide bombings
in Tashkent in March 2004, before he was sacked as UK
ambassador, he was shown transcripts of telephone
intercepts in which known al-Qaeda representatives
were asking each other 'what the hell was going on.
But then Colin Powell came out and said that al-Qaeda
were behind the blasts. I don't think the US even
believe their own propaganda.' 
The support continues, seen by many as a 'pay-off' for
the Khanabad base. The US Embassy website says
Uzbekistan got $10m for 'security and law enforcement
support' in 2004. 
Last year Human Rights Watch released a 319-page
report detailing the use of torture by Uzbekistan's
security services. It said the government was carrying
out a campaign of torture and intimidation against
Muslims that had seen 7,000 people imprisoned, and
documented at least 10 deaths, including Muzafar
Avozov, who was boiled to death in 2002. 
'Torture is rampant,' the reported concluded. Human
Rights Watch called for the US and its allies to
condemn Uzbekistan's tactics. 
© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

____________________________________

 
New York Times

May 16, 2005

Uzbekistan Shaken by Unrest, Violence and Uncertainty

By C. J. CHIVERS 

MOSCOW, May 15 - Skirmishing between armed Uzbeks and
troops along Uzbekistan's border with Kyrgyzstan
persisted Sunday, news agencies reported, as
uncertainty grew about the circumstances and extent of
bloodshed on Friday when the government suppressed a
mass demonstration by force.
Reports of the number of deaths since the violence
began varied widely, from dozens to hundreds of
civilians. The Associated Press reported that
residents of the village of Tefektosh had said the
latest clashes left several soldiers dead.
Uzbekistan's president, Islam A. Karimov, said
Saturday that 10 government soldiers and "many more
rebels" had been killed.
None of the reports could be verified, and it was
difficult to determine who was fighting, and with what
ambitions, although in addition to elements of a
general uprising against a repressive government,
armed and newly freed inmates were in the area of
strife. Telephone service has been intermittent, and
the Uzbek government has forced many journalists to
leave.
Uzbekistan, a predominantly Sunni Muslim republic of
25 million people, has been enveloped in uncertainty
since late last week, when armed men stormed a prison
in the Ferghana Valley to release a group of
demonstrators they regarded as being unjustly tried. 
The attack on the prison released as many as 2,000
inmates and turned into a mass demonstration in
Andijon. The protesters were dispersed, according to
accounts by journalists and witnesses, when soldiers
and armored vehicles fired on the crowd. 
Disorder has ensued since, although reports on Sunday
indicated that for at least one day the area was
calmer. There were also reports, however, suggesting
that the government had lost control of parts of the
country's northeastern border. 
Criticism of both sides from abroad was reminiscent of
the cold war. Britain's foreign secretary, Jack Straw,
told the BBC, "There has been a clear abuse of human
rights, a lack of democracy and a lack of openness."
Russia's foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, compared
the uprising to "a Taliban-style provocation,"
according to RIA Novosti, Russia's state news agency.
The unrest and violence have tested Mr. Karimov, a
former Communist Party official who has ruled Central
Asia's most populated republic with an iron grip since
the Soviet Union disintegrated. 
As journalists in the region reported that hundreds
and perhaps thousands of Uzbeks moved toward and
across the Kyrgyz border, at risk was the stability of
the heart of Central Asia, already buffeted by an
underdeveloped economy, ecological decline, a
resurgence of Islam, a recent revolution in Kyrgyzstan
and the conflicting pulls of China, Russia and the
United States.
Mr. Karimov, an inaccessible and aloof autocrat, has
long been criticized for persecution of opponents,
intolerance of freedom of religion and expression, and
the use of the police and torture, including the
sexual assault and boiling of suspects.
His control had been almost absolute. He was last
re-elected in 2000, with 91.7 percent of the vote, an
election generally regarded as fixed.
His style has also fueled worries about the
government's conduct. The reported violence over the
past three days, emerging from a near information
vacuum, has been chilling in part because Mr. Karimov
has long made clear that in maintaining order, he has
a high tolerance for blood. 
"I am prepared to rip off the heads of 200 people, to
sacrifice their lives, in order to save peace and calm
in the republic," he told reporters in 1999, after a
bus hijacking ended with a shootout that left nine
people dead. "If my child chose such a path, I myself
would rip off his head."
Mr. Karimov also has strengthened his relationship
with the United States, as the interests of two
nations have increasingly intertwined.
Hardened elements of his opposition, the Islamic
Movement of Uzbekistan, collaborated with Al Qaeda and
trained in camps in Afghanistan. After the attacks in
the United States in 2001, the Karimov government
presented itself as a Bush administration partner in
counterterrorism efforts, and the Pentagon opened a
base in southern Uzbekistan. 
There has also been evidence that the United States
has used the country for interrogations of terrorist
suspects seized elsewhere.
Nonetheless, signs of strain in the relationship have
emerged since 2003, as uprisings have toppled corrupt
post-Soviet governments in Georgia, Ukraine and
Kyrgyzstan, isolating the Uzbek president. 
Mr. Karimov, speaking at a news conference on Saturday
as journalists reported seeing blood-stained streets
and full morgues, made an oblique but unmistakable
reference to American interference.
"Attempts by some countries to plant democracy in
Central Asia can be used by a third force," he said,
according to RIA Novosti. He added, "This force is
radical Islam."
Mr. Karimov routinely labels enemies militant
Islamists, and blamed Islamic political and militant
groups for the latest violence. Human Rights Watch,
based in New York, said Sunday that his position had
raised concern he would repress all opponents,
including human rights defenders, labeling them
Islamic extremists.
There were contradictory signs on Sunday about the
resilience of Mr. Karimov's government. In Tashkent,
streets were calm but police were visible, said a
photographer working for The New York Times there. 
In Karasu, a border village where clashes erupted
Saturday as hundreds of Uzbeks tried to flee into
Kyrgyzstan, the situation appeared peaceful but
disordered. The Kyrgyz border authorities turned back
more than 500 Uzbeks, said Kamil Toktorov, a
correspondent with Kyrgyzstan's official news agency,
Kabar. 
He said the authorities had confiscated 87 weapons
from them, suggesting that some might have been
involved in clashes with Uzbek troops. Others appeared
to be prisoners; some were wounded.
"Everyone was sent back, including the wounded," Mr.
Toktorov, who visited the border crossing on Sunday,
said in a telephone interview from Osh, Kyrgyzstan. 
He said that in Karasu he did not see any Uzbek border
troops or customs officials, a sign that the Uzbek
government might have lost control of a section of the
border, at least temporarily. In another border town,
Dostuk, Mr. Toktorov said, he did see Uzbek forces. At
least one news agency report indicated that thousands
of Uzbeks had crossed. The number of casualties was
uncertain. 
Daniil Kislov, the editor in Moscow of a Web site,
Ferghana.ru, said the site's correspondent in Andijon
saw 50 bodies in the city's morgue on Saturday, as
well as 15 bodies in the city's central square on
Saturday evening. On Sunday, the correspondent,
Aleksei Volosevich, saw three more bodies, Mr. Kislov
said.
Mr. Volosevich was not able to visit School No. 15,
where The Associated Press had reported that 500
bodies awaited identification, citing an unidentified
doctor. Mr. Kislov said the number of dead was less
important than how they died.
"I do not think there is any difference between 50 and
500," Mr. Kislov said. "It is equally too many. The
government's response was disproportionately tough."
The resistance to the government has been variously
described as peaceful demonstrators seeking reform,
desperate criminals and Islamic militants, and could
contain elements of all three. 
"It's a hybrid," said Glen Howard, president of the
Washington-based Jamestown Foundation, which follows
the region and has an analyst who had been in Andijon
recently. 
"It began as a peaceful demonstration, but it appears
that some people manipulated the group for its own
purposes, because freeing 2,000 prisoners is not
indicative of a peaceful demonstration," Mr. Howard
said in a telephone interview.
He said the days ahead were critical, to see if the
disorder would move to the nearby city of Namangan,
where Islamic resistance took hold after the Soviet
Union collapsed. 
"If it spreads to Namangan, it could destabilize the
country," he said. "You're talking about a very
insular leader, and a country that is very important
to the United States."
Steven Lee Myers contributed reporting from Moscow for
this article, and Yola Monakhov from Tashkent,
Uzbekistan.




		
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