Kyrgyz president says Uzbek barricades will be removed

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

By Philip P. Pan
Saturday, June 19, 2010; A11

BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN -- Kyrgyzstan's interim president instructed police Friday to begin dismantling the barricades that ethnic Uzbeks have built to protect themselves from Kyrgyz mobs, a high-risk move that could ease the refugee crisis in the nation's south but spark more violence.

In an interview after making her first trip to the region since the deadly clashes between Kyrgyz and minority Uzbeks began a week ago, President Roza Otunbayeva said she ordered local authorities to work with civil society groups and to exercise restraint as they removed the trucks, trees and concrete barriers that Uzbek enclaves are using to keep Kyrgyz out. But she said police might need to use force to complete the task if Uzbeks resist.

"There are worries, certainly," she said. "How can I not be worried? But we can't just leave it like that. This will continue and continue, and there will be closed sectors, and how can you deliver humanitarian assistance? We must move. We must do something."

Otunbayeva and her government, which took power in a violent revolt in April, have come under intense public criticism for not restoring access to the Uzbek districts. Some nationalist Kyrgyz politicians have threatened to organize militias to remove the barricades if the government doesn't act, saying Kyrgyz sovereignty over the areas is in jeopardy.

In addition to clearing a path to bring relief aid to hundreds of thousands of Uzbeks who have been driven from their homes, Otunbayeva said removing the barricades will allow Kyrgyz families to search for missing relatives in ethnic Uzbek districts, help troops reestablish public order and encourage refugees to return home.

In Osh, the country's second-largest city, where the riots began, a senior police official, Kursan Asanov, set a deadline for Uzbeks to cooperate. "Within two days, access will be opened to the barricaded districts and the Uzbek communities where military forces can't enter," he said.

But the barricades have kept Kyrgyz and Uzbeks largely apart in recent days. Taking them down could result in renewed fighting between two traumatized and angry communities that accuse the other of atrocities.

The government says 223 people have been killed in the clashes, which have subsided in recent days. But the number of deaths could be 10 times higher because many victims have been buried without being taken to hospitals, Otunbayeva said.

"I think they should be very careful, and negotiate and build trust. Trying to tear down these barricades forcefully will not be received well," said Ole Solvang, a researcher with Human Rights Watch in the region, noting that many Uzbeks say Kyrgyz police and soldiers allowed mobs to rampage through their neighborhoods and even participated in the mayhem.

Solvang acknowledged that the barricades are slowing the delivery of aid to Uzbek refugees and are preventing ambulances from entering the neighborhoods. But he said Uzbeks are "afraid that if we take down the barricades, they'll be vulnerable to attacks again from ethnic Kyrgyz."

"There are good reasons why they feel insecure," he added. He noted that he and a colleague have documented that Uzbeks who leave their enclaves continue to be attacked, beaten and raped despite the government's assertion that it has restored order in Kyrgyz areas.

In a letter Friday, Human Rights Watch and another influential organization, the International Crisis Group, called on the U.N. Security Council to send a neutral police or military force to the region to establish a corridor for the delivery of aid, provide security for refugees to return home and make it possible for reconciliation programs to begin.

"The instability in southern Kyrgyzstan cannot be wished away, and without a decisive international response, there is considerable risk that widespread violence will reignite," the groups said, urging Russia and other countries that can deploy forces quickly to participate in the mission. Kyrgyzstan hosts U.S. and Russian air bases in the country's north.

Asked about the appeal, Otunbayeva expressed skepticism. "Nobody's ready to come in so far," she said.

She also acknowledged for the first time that some Kyrgyz police and soldiers may have participated in the violence. But she expressed faith in the ability of Kyrgyz prosecutors to conduct a fair investigation and said Uzbek witnesses and community groups had already provided much more evidence than Kyrgyz.

In Uzbekistan, where he was visiting a refugee camp near the Kyrgyz border, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake called for an international inquiry to complement the Kyrgyz probe into the violence.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Kyrgyz Officials Order Uzbeks to Remove Barriers (nytimes.com)
• Kyrgyz rights advocate charged with inciting hatred (ctv.ca)
• Displaced Uzbeks fear return to Kyrgyzstan villages as death toll estimate swells (theglobeandmail.com)
• U.S. envoy urges probe into Kyrgyz riots (msnbc.msn.com)
• Deposed Kyrgyz leader blamed over ethnic violence (calgaryherald.com)
• Refugees implicate Kyrgyz security forces in ethnic violence (cnn.com)

U.N. doubles estimate of Uzbek refugees as crisis grows in Kyrgyzstan

Image via Wikipedia

By Philip P. Pan
Friday, June 18, 2010; A18

OSH, KYRGYZSTAN -- The United Nations said Thursday that some 400,000 people have been driven from their homes by ethnic clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan, doubling its estimate of the number of refugees here and acknowledging that it was having trouble delivering aid because of continuing violence.

The new U.N. assessment highlighting the severity of the crisis came as the Kyrgyz military appeared to run into difficulties in its effort to restore order to the region, where more than 2 million people live. At least 180 have been killed in clashes between Kyrgyz and minority Uzbeks over the past week.

For a third straight day, conditions seemed to improve, with more residents feeling safe enough to venture out of their homes. But witnesses reported sporadic gunfire as troops patrolled the streets, including shots fired by unidentified gunmen at aid workers attempting to distribute food.

A children's home was reported to have been looted and set on fire, and in the afternoon, a dark plume of smoke could be seen rising from a village outside Osh, the country's second-largest city, where several Uzbek districts have been burned to the ground.

In another incident that suggested the volatility of the situation, a motorist stopped in Osh at what appeared to be a military checkpoint was asked his ethnicity, and when he said he was Uzbek, one of the uniformed men allegedly drew a knife and threatened to slit his throat. The driver tried to escape but was shot, according to his niece, Zebeil Hamrayava, 32, who said he had been hospitalized in serious condition.

Hamrayava said it was unclear whether the men at the checkpoint were Kyrgyz soldiers or impostors. But her account of the shooting dovetailed with other reports of Kyrgyz men in military uniforms targeting ethnic Uzbeks who leave their enclaves.

The behavior of the army and police during the past week's violence is a major grievance among Uzbeks, who accuse the security forces of letting Kyrgyz mobs run wild for several days, and in many cases, of taking part in the mayhem and slaughter themselves. While Uzbeks make up nearly half the region's population, almost all soldiers and police here are ethnic Kyrgyz.

Bakytbek Alymbekov, a deputy interior minister and the top police official in the Osh region, acknowledged that Uzbeks were wary of the troops that have been dispatched across the city.

But he said investigators had not identified any soldiers or police involved in the violence and suggested that those who organized the riots had distributed uniforms and weapons to the mobs. He added that the crowds managed to seize control of military vehicles, including armored personnel carriers, in the first few days of the chaos.

Ole Solvang, a Human Rights Watch researcher investigating the clashes in Osh, said the testimony he has collected thus far indicates that Kyrgyz troops at the very least ignored the attacks on Uzbek neighborhoods.

"It seems to be an extreme failure on the part of the government to intervene and protect these people," he said.

Kyrgyzstan's shaky interim government has accused the deposed president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, and his family of triggering the riots by paying gunmen to attack Kyrgyz and Uzbek neighborhoods. In recent days, the government has also begun to shift the blame toward ethnic Uzbek politicians, many of whom had been strong allies in opposing Bakiyev and his base of ethnic Kyrgyz supporters in the south.

By turning against the Uzbek leaders and accusing them of provoking the riots with radical political demands, the new government appears to be trying to win support by tapping into Kyrgyz nationalism, including anger over foreign news media reports showing that Uzbeks bore the brunt of the violence.

Speaking to reporters in Bishkek, the capital, a deputy prime minister, Azimbek Beknazarov, suggested that the government was planning to detain Kadyrzhan Batyrov, a leading Uzbek nationalist, and had already taken two of his followers into custody.

Any attempt to arrest Batyrov and other Uzbek community leaders is likely to further alienate Uzbek residents, who are furious at the government and its security forces and have used buses, trucks and trees to set up makeshift barricades meant to keep Kyrgyz out.

The barricades have made it difficult to deliver relief aid to the Uzbek villages and neighborhoods where it is needed most, and Kyrgyz officials have debated trying to use force to reach some of the Uzbek refugee settlements -- a move that human rights activists say could cause further bloodshed.

According to a new estimate by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, about 260,000 people displaced from their homes have been taken in by relatives or others, and 40,000 have been left without any shelter.

"No U.N. agency is on the ground at the moment," said Andrej Mahecic, a U.N. spokesman. "For the humanitarians to go, there must be a minimum of a security environment so they can do their work."

Another 100,000 refugees have crossed the border into Uzbekistan, where aid is getting through and conditions in the camps are generally better, he said.

In his remarks, Beknazarov also said the government was trying to extradite Bakiyev's son, Maxim, from Britain, where he reportedly sought political asylum this week.

Beknazarov accused him of playing a key role in provoking the riots and linked the disposition of his case to the future of a U.S. air base in northern Kyrgyzstan that supplies NATO operations in Afghanistan.

"If the U.K. does not extradite Maxim Bakiyev to Kyrgyzstan, then the interim government has no other choice but to expel the Americans from the air base," he said, according to the local AKI-Press news agency.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Kyrgyzstan's leader says unrest death toll could be 2,000 (thestar.com)
• U.S. official calls for Kyrgyzstan investigation (cnn.com)
• Kyrgyz Leader Vows to Restore Osh (online.wsj.com)
• Kyrgyzstan crisis: in pictures (newstatesman.com)

Fergana Valley: Stringent Border Measures Fuelling Tension in Enclaves

Alisher Khamidov: 8/13/09

A recent clash on the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border is highlighting a simmering social problem found in and around the Fergana Valley's many isolated enclaves. Public frustration is mounting over the inability of officials in the region to grapple with border-related issues, experts say. Authorities in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan are investigating the causes of the late July incident, in which a group of Uzbek citizens used stones to attack a Kyrgyz border checkpoint near the Uzbek enclave of Sokh, an area entirely surrounded by the Kyrgyz province of Batken. Two Kyrgyz law enforcement officers were reportedly injured in the confrontation. According to the Kyrgyz Border Service, the attack occurred after Kyrgyz border guards detained two Sokh residents who allegedly crossed the state border illegally. "Officers of the Kyrgyz State National Security Committee and the Interior Ministry, as well as representatives of the local authorities from both sides [of the border], arrived at the scene of the incident immediately. The incident was settled through talks. The two instigators of the conflict were handed over to Uzbek law-enforcement agencies," Cholponbek Turusbekov, deputy chairman of the Kyrgyz Border Service, told the Kazakhstan Today news agency on July 22. Residents who live in and around Sokh complain regularly about restrictions on their movement, especially since the violent episodes in Khanabad and Andijan, Uzbekistan, in late May. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].The increased restraints have hampered trade, preventing many farmers in the area from bringing their produce to market. The measures have also deepened the feeling of isolation of enclave residents from their countries.

In addition to Sokh, the Fergana Valley contains seven other enclaves. The Uzbek territories of Shakhimardan, Sokh, Qalacha, and Jangail are all located within Kyrgyzstan's Batken Province. Kyrgyzstan's Barak and Tajikistan's Sarvak both lie within Uzbekistan's Fergana province. Vorukh and Western Qalacha, two Tajik districts, are also surrounded by Batken province. During the early post-Soviet period, Fergana Valley borders were largely porous and unguarded. An insurgency waged by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) during the summer of 1999 and 2000 prompted Central Asian authorities to tighten border controls, seeking to check the free movement of individuals across borders, as well as to step up the fight against drugs and arms trafficking. Such measures had negative economic and social ramifications on regional residents. Sokhibjon, a taxi driver from Uzbek city of Fergana, described the complexity of traveling between two Uzbek cities. "If you want to get to Shakhimardan from Fergana, you have to cross at least four border checkpoints and several police stations. And you are likely to be harassed by border guards and customs inspectors. Fed up with such harassment, many people avoid traveling to Shakhimardan," he said. In addition, stringent border measures have endangered the local tourism industry, the main source of income for Shakhimardan's five thousand residents, locals say. With its picturesque scenery and mountain lakes, the enclave has long been a major holiday destination in the region. Several Islamic sacred sites located on its territory also once attracted a sizable number of religious pilgrims. "We lived off profits made during the busy summer months. Every day thousands of people flocked [to Shakhimardan]. Those days are long gone. The streets are empty and there is not much trade happening. We barely can make ends meet now," a resident of Shakhimardan told EurasiaNet on condition of anonymity.

In 2007 and 2008, residents of Shakhimardan staged several small protests in front of a local government building, trying to draw attention to their social and economic problems. Their claims, however, have been left largely unanswered by local officials. Locals in Sokh complain of isolation of another type. Sokh's 35,000 residents are predominantly ethnic Tajiks. The majority of local government officials are ethnic Uzbeks. Authorities in Tashkent have long viewed the Tajik-populated enclave with suspicion. The IMU incursions reinforced these suspicions and prompted the authorities to tighten control over movement in and out of the enclave. Between 1999 and 2001, landmines planted by Uzbek authorities to prevent the infiltration of Islamic militants killed at least a dozen local residents. Though the government began to remove landmines in the early 2000s, stiff security measures continue to make travel outside the enclave difficult for residents. When it comes to agriculture, enclave residents complain about a scarcity of arable land and pastures, a fact that sometimes has lead to clashes between neighboring villagers. Kyrgyz non-governmental organizations that specialize in conflict prevention in the Fergana Valley have reported more than a dozen border clashes involving enclave residents since the early 2000s. Regional governments have sought to delimit the state borders to reduce tensions in and around enclaves. For example, the Kyrgyz-Uzbek commission on border delimitation and demarcation has completed the delimitation of approximately 993 km out of 1,375 km of their mutual border. But a lack of funding has greatly hindered border demarcation efforts. In 2008, for instance, the Kyrgyz legislature allocated less than 10 million som (roughly $230,000) for border delimitation efforts. Complex terrain and conflicting Soviet-era maps -- printed at a time when defining the borders was not a pressing issue -- present the toughest obstacle to delimitation. As a temporary solution, Uzbek and Tajik authorities have informally sought land corridors through Kyrgyzstan that would connect the enclaves to their respective territories. But Kyrgyz officials oppose such corridors, saying they would hamper the movement of Kyrgyz citizens.

Some local residents and conflict prevention experts say that national governments should avoid hasty delimitation agreements and instead should give more authority to local governments. Maksumjon Rakhmatullayev, an analyst from the Uzbek town of Fergana, believes that "Local government officials are incapable of addressing [border-related] problems because they do not have enough power. They have to consult with their capitals for every issue and problem. And it takes time for the capitals to respond."

Editor's Note: Alisher Khamidov is a researcher based in South Kyrgyzstan.