BBC: Uzbek troops seal off second town

[allemand]

Troops in Uzbekistan have sealed off Korasuv, a town on the border with Kyrgyzstan, where locals took control from government officials on Saturday.

Korasuv residents have been meeting to discuss how to run their own affairs.

The unrest spread to Korasuv from nearby Andijan, where peaceful protests turned bloody on Friday after troops opened fire on the crowd. (...)

Uzbek troops have set up checkpoints on the roads leading into Korasuv on the Kyrgyz border to seal off the area.

More:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4549873.stm

Another massacre in the making? :cry:

[Anarcho-Socialist]

1. I'm fearing that there's going to be genocide

The U.S. Government is not speaking up about it, even though most other major nations are.

[aneerkoinos]

2. Craig Murray:

"The bodies of hundreds of pro-democracy protesters in Uzbekistan are scarcely cold, and already the White House is looking for ways to dismiss them. The White House spokesman Scott McClellan said those shot dead in the city of Andijan included "Islamic terrorists" offering armed resistance. They should, McClellan insists, seek democratic government "through peaceful means, not through violence".

But how? This is not Georgia, Ukraine or even Kyrgyzstan. There, the opposition parties could fight elections. The results were fixed, but the opportunity to propagate their message brought change. In Uzbek elections on December 26, the opposition was not allowed to take part at all.

<snip>

You may think I exaggerate. Read the 2002 report by Professor Theo van Boven, the UN special rapporteur on torture, in which he denounced torture in Uzbekistan as "widespread and systemic". Human Rights Watch last year produced a book with more than 300 pages of case studies. One of the uses of Uzbek torture is to provide the CIA and MI6 with "intelligence" material linking the Uzbek opposition with Islamist terrorism and al-Qaida. The information is almost entirely bogus, and it was my efforts to stop MI6 using it that led ultimately to my effective dismissal from the Foreign Office."

MORE:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1484631,00.html

[allemand]

3. Tensions persist in Uzbek city, reports of 200 new deaths in clashes

ANDIJAN, Uzbekistan (AP) - Sporadic shooting continued Monday in an eastern Uzbek city where an uprising sparked a crackdown by security forces that left up to 500 people dead, and a human rights group reported that clashes in another town killed an additional 200 people. (...)

If the reports of more than 700 deaths since Friday hold true and if Uzbek forces were behind the killing - as most reports indicate - it would be some of the worst state-inspired bloodshed 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 kilometres northeast of Andijan.

There was no independent confirmation of his claim.

More:
http://www.680news.com/news/international/article.jsp?content=w051602A

[allemand]

4. Mass arrests likely after bloody Uzbek uprising

16 May 2005 10:16:14 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Dmitry Solovyov

ANDIZHAN, May 16 (Reuters) - Uzbek authorities are likely to carry out mass arrests of protesters who staged an uprising bloodily suppressed by troops at the weekend, a leading human rights campaigner said on Monday. (...)

"One can now only expect massive arrests and the elimination of those opposing the regime," human rights campaigner Saidzhakhon Zainabitdinov of Uzbek rights group Appeal, told Reuters in Andizhan. (...)

In Tashkent, the prosecutors' office said a formal investigation had been launched into "murders and the organisation of mass unrest" in Andizhan.

The town remained tense on Monday, parts of the centre were blocked by APCs and troops who raised their Kalashnikov assault rifles and clicked off the safety catch at approaching pedestrians. Single gun shots could be heard overnight.

More:
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L16160661.htm

[0007]

5. C'mon United States you know what's going on

please tell us what the U.S. troops in Uzbekistan is doing to help the good folks in Uzbekistan that don't want a dictatorship? Are they just standing around watching?

"UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told the BBC there had been "a clear abuse of human rights" in Uzbekistan and called for more transparency.

The Uzbek foreign ministry dismissed his comments, saying Mr Straw was too far away to know what had happened. "

There are American troops there for Christ sake, why are we in cahoots with a dictator?

[Nihil]

9. Or, for an even simpler question, ...

"Please tell us what the U.S. troops are doing in Uzbekistan?"

The presence of American troops, the killing of hundreds of citizens
(pro-democracy?), the immediate blaming of "Islamic terrorists" ...
this does not make a pleasant picture to the outside world.
It would be very wise to come clean here, sooner rather than later.

[allemand]

6. Uzbek massacre highlights US' double standard

PROMOTING FREEDOM?: US support for the Uzbek regime has draw criticism of the Bush administration's selectiveness in its self-styled war against terror

Heated criticism was growing Saturday of Washington's "double standards" over human rights, democracy and freedom as details emerged of how brutally Uzbekistan, a US ally in the war on terror, put down Friday's unrest in the east of the country.

The White House alarmed human rights activists by saying that "terrorist groups" may have been involved in the uprising. Witnesses at the scene and analysts familiar with the region said most protesters were complaining about government corruption and poverty, not espousing Islamic extremism. (...)

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 the US 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 craft 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.

More:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2005/05/16/2003254900

[allemand]

7. Journalists from Reuters and other news organisations expelled

Uzbek expulsion sparks press protest

Jason Deans
Monday May 16, 2005

The authorities in Uzbekistan have been criticised after journalists from Reuters and other news organisations were expelled at the weekend from the city where hundreds of protesters are said to have been shot by government troops.
International press freedom group Reporters Without Borders has condemned the alleged forced removal of around seven journalists from the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan by government security services.

The group also claimed that the Uzbek government was blocking broadcasts into the country by foreign news channels including BBC World, CNN and Russian network NTV.

RSF added that Russian independent news websites Lenta, Gazeta and Fergana had also been blocked by the Uzbek authorities, along with several local online news services.
"When the authorities keep journalists away from a conflict zone it is most often to hide abuses committed there. We are very concerned and urge President Islam Karimov to allow our colleagues to cover these events," the press freedom organisation said.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1485099,00.html

[allemand]

8. Straw 'very concerned' by Uzbek killings

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw today continued his criticism of the Uzbekistan government following the reported killing of hundreds of Uzbek civilians by its troops last week.

He said the troops' actions in opening fire on civilians in the town of Andijan, which eyewitnesses say has left 500 dead, "plainly cannot be justified", and pressed for foreign observers to be allowed into the town. (...)

He said the British ambassador to Uzbekistan, David Moran, had held a meeting with Uzbekistan's foreign minister, Ilyor Ganiyev.

Mr Moran had pressed for the Red Cross and the United Nations High Commission for refugees to be allowed in to Andijan. He had also asked for European ambassadors and journalists to be given access.

http://www.politics.co.uk/foreign-policy/straw-very-concerned-by-uzbek-killings-$8514176.htm