So much to say!
Well, although my dear little country is making international headlines, I have even bigger news. Yes, folks, last night for dinner I had fish. You heard right, fish. In this doubly landlocked country I had resigned myself to a fishless existence for the next two years. And, up until last night, that had been the case. But, when my host father mentioned “ballikxona” (fish room,) I knew my luck had changed. And indeed it was a delicious, if subdued meal.
With that I might as well talk about the recent goings on here in Uzbekistan. But before I jump to the here and now, as 24 hour cable news networks are famous for doing, I’d like to give a little background to the situation. Up until 1991, Uzbekistan was part of the Soviet Union. Although I can’t imagine many fans of this blog are ready wave the old hammer and sickle, the Soviet impact on this country was not entirely bad. The good was that people had jobs, food and money. That is, teachers got paid, students had textbooks, and the schools had heat in the winter. Additionally, medical care, though probably not by any means at Western standards, was free. The biggest plus, though, was that people were occupied with jobs. Maybe they were dumb jobs, but they kept people busy, gave them pride in the fact that they were contributing to society, and secured the familial structure.
After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Uzbekistan became independent. However, unlike many independence movements, this one wasn’t fought for, it just happened. Basically, the country was left with all the workings of the old soviet system. This meant many different things. First of all, all the old faces from the Communist role were still in office. And we’re not just talking about the president here, but the whole cupboard… So although a “new” country was born, ideologically, nothing had changed. The old Communist party was renamed with the words Liberal and Democratic sprinkled into the title. So while nothing changed in the governing structure, there was a whole country to be taken care of.
This presented many problems. The first, and perhaps most important, was the challenge of retaining control among the various factions that make up the population here. It was Stalin, I believe, who was responsible for dividing up Central Asia into different countries. As such, the countries here were apportioned so that no one ethnic majority could lay claim to one territorial area. So as a result, you have Uzbekistan, a strange looking country compromising of: Uzbeks, Tajiks, Afghans, Kazaks, etc. etc. You name it. So the new (old) government decided that the first and most pressing task for the new nation was to instill a sense of nationalistic pride and identity in its people. Therefore, to this day, you will see giant billboards with the Uzbek flag, inspiring words about greatness, and other such propaganda. Additionally, to remind the people lest they forget who was in charge, the president had his portrait plastered everywhere. And I’m not kidding, it is everywhere.
Part of this nationalistic re-awakening included a rejection of the Russians and the values that had so brutally imposed during Soviet rule. So Uzbeks were asked to look into their past, their distant past, to find a new model for their future. As such, famous personages, including Tamerlane (Amir Timur,) Miro Ulugbek, and other such 15th century heroes were vaunted as the ideal Uzbek. Schools and streets were re-named, documentaries about these people were aired constantly on the state owned media. Children were named Timur and Ulugbek. (As a gag, when I’m around a group of boys, I say, “who’s Timur?” and there’s usually at least one or two hands raised.) The great irony of this is that these famous people never thought of themselves as Uzbek, they just happened to live around the area. So, in a way, Uzbekistan claimed a regional heritage as its own.
This return to the past, though, meant a re-connection with the deeply rooted Islamic values of the region. Although public religious display was repressed by the Soviets, most people in Uzbekistan continued to self identify as Muslim, even if they did take to the bottle themselves. So although Soviet rule did dampen the religious component of life here, it did not extinguish it. Thus upon independence, many Uzbeks hoped that their nationalistic revival would include a re-connection with their faith. However, this was not to be the case. Perhaps understandably, the government feared that a religious revival would be the precursor to its downfall. After all, the more radical Islamic elements of society certainly had no good will to the individuals who had silenced their way of life for so long. As such, although Uzbeks were asked to reject the Russian influence and re-connect with their cultural roots, they were told, in no uncertain terms, not to start going to mosques. Indeed to this day, being an active participant in organized religious services is just an invitation to increased government surveillance and hassle.
The second major problem facing the new nation had to do with the economy. As has been the case in most of the former Soviet Republics, the challenge of transitioning from a socialist to a free market economy has been a highly daunting task. In Uzbekistan, the failure to do so has been monumental and has had disastrous effects. What’s happened is that the individuals who were in power before independence have retained their power. Thus the few successful private companies that do operate here are headed by these former, and often current governmental officials. As one in power would be a fool to work against his own interests, fair regulations for new business initiatives and foreign investment are nonexistent. Thus the macro picture is bleak; the country is run by mafia business cartels who pursue profit at any cost.
This has meant that universal services, formerly provided by the state to all citizens, have deteriorated to the point of near collapse. These include: water, gas and electricity distribution, road maintenance, telephone systems, health care, and of course, education. Most schools in Uzbekistan are appallingly ancient, lack resources, and are often without heat in the winter. Things slough on, but pragmatically, the quality of life here has been on an downward trajectory since independence.
So Uzbekistan is a crumbling place unable to meet the demands of its populations. The government allows its citizens no viable alternatives (think of how much faith based groups do to empower citizens and fix broken communities,) and most people are terrified to step out of line, lest they be taken away to places where they will be mercilessly abused. But over the past few years, people have been saying “enough,” louder and more publicly. This most recent incident is not the first of its kind, but is emblematic of this situation here. The men thrown in jail were sentenced with practicing religious extremism to the threat of the state (read government.) Now I’ll be the first to say I have no idea if this is true, but the general consensus is that these charges were used as a cover for other activities, including business development, that the government perceived as a threat.
So people gathered, stormed the jail, freed the men, and then moved on to the major’s office. As the crowd grew, the military was called in and many people were killed. Now I don’t think that a mass revolution is going to happen today or tomorrow for that matter. This incident, though perhaps the biggest and most publicized yet, is not unique. Over the past few years, protests have happened in different parts of the country, though mainly in the Ferghana region and in the capital, Tashkent. As you may imagine, these protests receive no coverage in the local media; all news travels by taxi and word of mouth.
As I see it, this is the latest in a series of sparks. And as I mentioned earlier, the infrastructure here, including the gas distribution pipes, is falling apart. It won’t be long till one of these sparks happens near a badly leaking pipe and a massive explosion results. Where that will be, or when, is not for me to say. But I am fairly sure that it will happen. What frightens me is the fact that although most people here have a great distaste for their government, it is predominantly the more radical Islamic elements which have been speaking out most vocally. Make no mistake, everybody here is suffering. But being on the inside, I can attest to the great fear of stepping out of line. The policemen in their green uniforms and orange batons are everywhere, and they don’t need any reason to stop you. So although the Uzbeks certainly do deserve a better deal, there is a real possibility that the new regime will be just as repressive, though perhaps driven by a different agenda.
This is all fascinating to me. I do want to assure you that I am safe. Peace Corps keep us up to date on things, and I am able to watch CNN and BBC World regularly. I’ve got loads to say about day to day life here – which is what the majority of people, including me, have been going about for the past few months, I’ll save that for next week.
For more information (all sites censored in UZ) :
Muslim Uzbekistan – I’d be interested in a review of this one… are they nutty?
And for a funny look at Uzbek daily life, as a primer for next week’s entry, check out:
Grandma Fran called asks “why can’t he look for excitement in Pittsburgh”
From Muslim Uzbekistan:
May 14, 2005
UZBEKISTAN’S INTERIOR MINISTER: “WE DON’T CARE IF 200, 300 OR 400 PEOPLE DIE. WE HAVE FORCE…”
Sourse: News agencies
Uploaded/Updated: 05/14/2005 04:49:49
Zakir Almatov: ‘We don’t care if 200, 300 or 400 people die. We have force and we will chuck you out of there anyway’
According to an eye witness, a bloody military operation to disperse rebels and thousands of protesters who’d seized a state building in the eastern Uzbek town of Andizhan killed dozens.
At least one report said hundreds of people were gathering on the square again where on Friday troops opened fire on a crowd of about 3,000 in the town in the Ferghana Valley, a town which the authoritarian government sees as a hotbed of rebels.
The protesters, some of them calling for long-serving President Islam Karimov to stand down, had gathered after the rebels freed inmates from a local prison, including 23 businessmen who are on trial on “religious extremism†charges.
Soldiers loyal to Uzbekistan’s authoritarian leader, a U.S. ally, fired on thousands of demonstrators in an attempt to put down the uprising.
Gunfire rang out again in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan as soldiers removed bodies from the streets on Saturday. Witnesses said soldiers loaded dozens of bodies onto four trucks and a bus after blocking families from collecting them.
Later, some 1,000 angry protesters reconvened at the square, placing six bodies on display from those killed in the fighting.
Demonstrators denounced the government for firing on women and children.
Alexei Volosevich, a reporter for an opposition web site, said in an interview with a media source that he could see dozens of corpses.
“I’m standing next to the cinema and can see 30 dead people and two injured,” he told Reuters. “I can see pools of blood and bits of brain on the asphalt.”
He said between 1,000-2,000 people had gathered on the square again. Though his report could not be independently verified, a doctor speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed there were a high number of casualties.
“We have 96 wounded and many, many dead,” the medic said.
Karimov was due to hold a news conference in Tashkent on Saturday morning and a government source said late Friday that the building in Andizhan had been taken back. But the area was sealed off and sporadic machine gun and assault rifle fire could be heard.
A Reuters correspondent saw one man, apparently felled by a bullet, lying in a pool of blood three meters from him after troops opened fire, causing many to flee in panic.
The authorities, in a statement carried on state television, said the rebels had refused to compromise.
A reporter for The Associated Press counted 23 dead, all of whom had been shot. At least one also had a smashed skull. A witness told The AP that “many, many dead bodies” were stacked up by a school near the central square where the shootings occurred.
Uzbekistan is a key Washington ally in the “war on terror†and hosts a U.S. air base to support military operations in neighbouring Afghanistan. However, it is also frequently denounced by human rights groups and Western governments for torture and repression of opposition.
The White House urged restraint by the government and the demonstrators.
“The people of Uzbekistan want to see a more representative and democratic government. But that should come through peaceful means not through violence, and that’s what our message is,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
According to one of the protest leaders, Kabuljon Parpiyev, the death toll could be as high as 50, in direct contradiction to the governments statements who said nine people were killed in the clashes and 34 wounded.
“We want to be allowed to work and do our business without hindrance,” the 42-year-old Parpiyev told AP.
One of the 23 defendants, Abduvosid Egomov, was holed up in the local government compound.
“We are not going to overthrow the government. We demand economic freedom,” Egomov said. “We are ready to die instead of living as we are living now. The Uzbek people have been reduced to living like dirt.”
Parpiyev said Interior Minister Zakir Almatov called him Friday morning and heard the protesters’ demands. He initially agreed to negotiations but said later that the offer of talks was off, the protest organizer said.
“He said, ‘We don’t care if 200, 300 or 400 people die. We have force and we will chuck you out of there anyway,'” Parpiyev quoted Almatov as saying.
A witness told The Associated Press he had seen a group of about 100 protesters mowed down by gunfire as they headed to the square. The city’s hospital was cordoned off and officials could not be reached for casualty figures.
The government blocked foreign news reports for its domestic audience.
What Americans are reading.
From CNN:
‘Hundreds dead’ in Uzbek violence
(CNN) — Human rights monitors say hundreds of people were killed by Uzbek government soldiers in the wake of Friday’s violent anti-government protest in the eastern city of Andijan, Russia’s Interfax news agency has reported.
An estimated 3,500 refugees fled Andijan Saturday, gathering a few miles to the south at the Kyrgyzstan border, which was finally opened to them, Interfax reported.
The unprecedented violence began early Thursday when a group of local citizens angry about the arrest of several prominent business owners stormed the prison where they were being held.
At one point, about 10,000 protesters gathered in the city center to demand the resignation of Uzbek President Islam Karimov and his authoritarian government, who are allies of the United States. The president’s office described them as criminals and extremists.
Karimov, who has led the country since before the 1991 Soviet collapse, issued a statement Saturday blaming the violence on the Islamic radical group Hizb ut-Tahrir.
He said their goal was to establish an islamic state and to destroy the current constitutional system. He said 10 government troops and “many more” protesters were killed in the violence.
Information about what happened late Friday and Saturday is sketchy since journalists, included one working for CNN, were escorted from the town by police on Saturday.
Interfax quoted Saijakhon Zainabitdinov, head of the Andizhan human rights group Appeal, concerning the death toll.
“Government troops opened fire on civilians on Friday evening and hundreds of people died. At dawn today, the dead bodies were taken away on five vehicles — three Zil dump trucks, one Ural heavy truck and one bus. All of the vehicles were filled with bodies,” Zainabitdinov said.
Another Interfax report quoting humanitarian relief organizations saying more than 3,500 people gathered at Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan border and were finally allowed to cross over towards the Kyrgyz city of Osh.
The U.S. Embassy in the capital of Tashkent on Friday issued a warden’s message, saying it has “confirmed with the Uzbek Ministry of Foreign Affairs that no one will be allowed to enter or exit the city of Andijan for the time being.
“American citizens in Andijan are encouraged to stay off the streets at this time. MFA also confirms that all border crossings are at the highest stages of alert, but Americans should be able to cross.”
Radical Islamic militants have fought with Uzbek soldiers in the area for several years, but Bukharbaeva said the mostly young protesters, who have spoken over loudspeakers in the city center, denied they are connected to that rebel movement.
“They say they are not Islamic extremists. They are just ordinary people who are tired of unemployment, who are tired of injustice and they just want better living conditions,” Galima Bukharbaeva, country director of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting in Uzbekistan, told CNN.
She reported that demonstrators controlled the city center by midday Friday, with thousands surrounding the city government headquarters. She said the regional government headquarters and a theater were burning.
Prison stormed
The unrest began early Friday morning when supporters of local businessmen who are on trial on charges of Islamic extremism stormed the prison where they were held, according to Bukharbaeva.
The government said the attackers stole dozens of weapons from a military camp early Friday, just before storming the prison and freeing inmates.
Interfax said Karimov traveled to Andijan held negotiations with people in the city.
The Uzbek government immediately suspended distribution of CNN and Russian television channels in the country, viewers in Tashkent told CNN.
Andijan is just across the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border from the city of Osh, one of the centers of the uprising that led to the ouster of Kyrgyzstan President Askar Akayev in March.
An unrelated incident Friday morning outside the Israeli Embassy in the Uzbek capital Tashkent added to the tension and confusion. A man who carried a fake bomb was shot to death by a guard at the Israeli Embassy, the Israeli government said.
Israeli Ambassador to Uzbekistan Ami Mehl said the man refused to obey commands to stop walking toward the embassy, instead answering that he hated Israel. He was shot in the leg, but continued to move forward, Mehl said. The man was then shot and killed, he said.
Earlier in the week, the U.S. Embassy warned that it had information terrorists were planning attacks against U.S. and Western interests in Uzbekistan. Last July, the U.S. and Israeli embassies there were targeted by bombs that killed two guards.
Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic, allowed hundreds of U.S. troops to use a base near the Afghan border after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
——————————————————————————–
Copyright 2005 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
May 14, 2005
Human Rights Group Says 200 Have Been Killed in Uzbekistan
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 6:58 a.m. ET
ANDIJAN, Uzbekistan (AP) — Thousands of terrified Uzbeks fled for the border Saturday but hundreds angrily returned to the square where police fired on demonstrators to put down an uprising against country’s authoritarian U.S.-allied leader. A human rights monitor said about 200 people were killed.
Uzbek President Islam Karimov said 10 government troops and ”many more” protesters were killed but refused to be more specific. He spoke at a news conference in the capital Tashkent a day after the unprecedented clashes in his tightly controlled country, which he has led since before the 1991 Soviet collapse.
In the eastern city of Andijan, hundreds of protesters gathered at the square, displaying the bodies of six people killed in Friday’s bloodshed and tearfully denouncing the government.
”Our women and children are dying,” said Daniyar Akbarov, 24, who claimed to have seen at least 300 people killed in the violence.
Big military trucks loaded with soldiers cruised the streets and troops backed by armored vehicles surrounded the heavily fortified police headquarters.
Earlier, soldiers loaded scores of bodies of those killed onto four trucks and a bus after blocking friends and relatives from collecting them, witnesses said.
Lutfulo Shamsutdinov, the head of the Independent Human Rights Organization of Uzbekistan, said he saw about 200 victims being loaded onto trucks near the square in Andijan, the fourth-largest city with a population of 350,000.
Another witness who declined to be named said ”many, many dead bodies” were stacked up by a school near the square. The city’s hospital was cordoned off and officials could not be reached for casualty figures.
An AP reporter said she saw at least 30 bodies. All had been shot, and at least one had his skull smashed. She said there were large pools of blood and hundreds of spent cartridges on the streets.
A group of foreign journalists was detained early Saturday and told to leave the city immediately.
Some 4,000 Uzbeks fled to the border with neighboring Kyrgyzstan, seeking asylum. Kyrgyz border guards were awaiting a government decision on whether to allow them in, said Gulmira Borubayeva, a spokeswoman for Kyrgyzstan’s border guard service.
A move to shelter the refugees could badly strain Kyrgyzstan’s relations with Karimov’s government.
Friday’s uprising began when armed men freed 2,000 inmates from a prison, including suspects on trial for alleged Islamic extremism.
Later, thousands of people swarmed into the streets of Andijan, seizing control of the administration building and taking city officials hostage, including the prosecutor and the police chief. Nine people were killed in those clashes and 34 wounded, the government said. Cars and nearby theaters were set ablaze.
In the afternoon, about 4,000 protesters massed in front of the building on the central square and set up a podium under a monument to an Uzbek prince, where speakers complained of unemployment and living in poverty.
But shortly before dusk, the soldiers moved in and opened fire, sending the terrified demonstrators fleeing. One man wailed, ”Oh, my son! He’s dead!”
Karimov and other officials flew to Andijan during the day but returned to the capital of Tashkent on Friday night. On Saturday, the president said authorities tried to negotiate an end to the protests before firing on the crowd.
But a protest leader, Kabuljon Parpiyev, said Interior Minister Zakir Almatov called him Friday morning and heard the protesters’ demands. He initially agreed to negotiations but later said the offer of talks was off, Parpiyev said.
”He said, ‘We don’t care if 200, 300 or 400 people die. We have force and we will chuck you out of there anyway,”’ Parpiyev quoted Almatov as saying.
The prison raid and the soldiers’ fusillades were in sharp contrast to the largely peaceful uprisings that sparked regime changes in the former Soviet republics of Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan in the past 18 months. Karimov is regarded as one of the harshest leaders in the former Soviet Union and apparently favors quick and decisive action against any threats to his government.
Uzbekistan is a minor oil exporter and hosts a U.S. air base to support military operations in neighboring Afghanistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States. But it also is frequently denounced by human rights groups for torture and repression of opposition.
The White House urged restraint by both the government and the demonstrators.
”The people of Uzbekistan want to see a more representative and democratic government. But that should come through peaceful means, not through violence,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
The focus of the jailbreak was 23 men on trial on charges of being members of a group allegedly allied with the outlawed radical Islamic party Hizb-ut-Tahrir, which seeks to create a worldwide Islamic state and has been forced underground throughout most of Central Asia and Russia.
Supporters of the 23 men say they were victims of religious repression by Karimov’s secular government.
The 23 are members of Akramia — a group named for their founder, Akram Yuldashev, an Islamic dissident sentenced in 1999 to 17 years in prison for allegedly urging the overthrow of Karimov. He has proclaimed his innocence.
Akramis are considered the backbone of Andijan’s small business community, running a medical clinic and pharmacy, as well as working as furniture craftsmen, and providing employment to thousands in the impoverished Fergana Valley, where Islamist sentiment runs high.
There are concerns that the valley could become a flashpoint for destabilizing wide swaths of ex-Soviet Central Asia.
Their trial has inspired one of the largest public shows of anger at the government. In recent weeks, Uzbeks have shown increasing willingness to challenge the leadership in protests, apparently bolstered by the March uprising in Kyrgyzstan that drove out President Askar Akayev and the similar ones in Ukraine and Georgia.
One of the 23 defendants, Abduvosid Egomov, sought refuge with protesters in the adminstrative building on Friday.
”We are not going to overthrow the government. We demand economic freedom,” Egomov told The Associated Press. ”We are ready to die instead of living as we are living now. The Uzbek people have been reduced to living like dirt.”
Address of phaster’s Uzbek holiday
http://www.phaster.com/unpretentious/uzbek_1999_01.html#holiday
I’m glad to hear that you are all right.
The overview is very interesting; I didn’t realize that Uzbeks had a Muslim background, I suppose I just assumed that they were Eastern Orthodox. When you talk about Islamic extremism, I assume it’s not of the same sort in the Middle East, or is it?
Keep in touch.
Is my site censored too? I didn’t think they’d noticed me. It’d be an honor to be considered such a nuisance…
Matt, very glad to hear you’re doing alright. I’ve been checking this site repeatedly since I’ve become aware of the uprisings hoping to hear some word. With Peace Corps pull you out if things get hairy? They’ve already issued travel advisory warnings for Americans. It’s sad to hear that the country is still in post-cold war decline. You painted a more hopeful picture for the country before you had set out to do your good work. Nonetheless, this should be a learning experience of a lifetime and you might be able to hit the jackpot on a book deal when you publish your insider perspective. 🙂
P.S. Remember to duck if the lead starts flying!
Its amazing the policy shift Rice has put into place will not allow PCVs to be evacuated in these countries when there is a coup, etc. I wonder if this will affect funding(you’re all going to be classified) and the OSS(Office of Safety and Security)?
Good Luck!
Bender what do you mean by that? When can the PCVs be evacuated? How is their safety protected?
Please explain the classification issue. Many thanks
I dont understand what Bender is saying, what has Condi got to do with the PCV??? I have been following this “thing” closely for awhile and have had my fingers crossed it doesnt spread but, as usual these “things” spread like the plague and the trouble next door recently has seemngly roused the folks in your so called “dear little country”. My first concern is for your well being and safety, and i certainly hope that they have contingency plans to remove you youngsters if and when it becomes necessary.
In the meantime Buvi is giving Bobo hot and cold because she is terribly worried about you and says that i should have discouraged you from going there. PLEASE, take care of yourself, stay well, and try to contact a little more often. All our love, B&B—-Formely, G&G
P.S.—snail mail on the way tomorrow–gp
Hi Matt:
I am glad to hear that you are safe. You are well-loved here in the States remember that. I miss you a lot.
I think that this is a wonderful opportunity for you to watch and to learn. The United States is a powerful country, sometimes a dastardly place, but it has a sense of stability that far surpasses many locales nationwide. However, while it’s interesting to hear all these fascinating details firsthand, I do have a concern for you.
Watch and learn, BUT if it gets too hot, I know that you will be savvy enough to do the right and smart thing. You showed that with your leadership skills many times at the Tripod.
Sending my love and positive energy your way,
Melissa A. T. Kotulski
Thanks everyone for the feedback. As of today, it seems that the government has blocked the satelite TV – I’m not able to get a signal for BBC or CNN. But here I am in an internet cafe, so that solves that, right? Things are a little bit tenser than usual, but as today is Bozor Kuni (Bazaar Day,) most Uzbeks here are going about their business. I am almost certain, though, that this is on everyone’s mind. Even though I am far from the violence, there are enough people with satelite TVs and internet connections to get a fuller picture than given by the government.
I don’t feel in any danger – let me re-emphasize. Peace Corps has moved the vols from that area away, and if anything spreads, I am pretty sure that I’ll too be evacuated. Honestly, though, I’m hoping that things don’t get too violent, at least in my backyard.
The sentiments I agree with most are Melissa’s. This is great stuff for me right now, and I’m glad to be here. But thanks, of course to all those Tripod skillz, I know when to say enough’s enough. And thanks Jon for the practical advice 😉
Since this seems to be of interest to a large audience, I’ll try to update throughout the week if possible. Thanks for all the positive thoughts!!
~WD
p.s. Nathan, your site is not yet censored, but terribly slow.
Warden Messages
Travel Warning(03/24/2005)
The following is a message distributed through the Consular Warden System of the American Embassy in Tashkent
Travel Warning
United States Department of State
Bureau of Consular Affairs
Washington, DC 20520
KYRGYZSTAN
March 24, 2005
This Travel Warning is being issued to update security information on Kyrgyzstan and to note that the Department of State urges U.S. citizens to consider carefully the risks of travel to the country. This Travel Warning supersedes the Public Announcement issued on October 22, 2004.
Political demonstrations in March, throughout the country, have led to clashes between pro-government and opposition forces. Press reporting indicates that some members of the Kyrgyz Government have resigned. There have also been some reports of stores being looted in Bishkek in conjunction with the demonstrations.
On March 20, 21 and 22, political demonstrations in southern Kyrgyzstan led to clashes between government and opposition forces. The continued instability in the cities of Jalalabad and OSH HAS significantly added to concerns about the security situation for Americans residing and visiting there. The U.S. Peace Corps is exploring the possibility of removing its Peace Corps Volunteers from Jalalabad and Osh Oblasts as a safety precaution.
The Department of State is advising U.S. citizens to defer travel to Kyrgyzstan because of the current instability in that country.
U.S. citizens are urged to consider their safety and security before traveling to Kyrgyzstan. In addition to the ongoing political instability, the U.S. government is also aware of increased extremist activity in Central Asia. Extremist groups such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a terrorist organization with links to al-Qaida, may be planning terrorist acts targeting U.S. Government facilities, Americans or American interests in Kyrgyzstan. New tactics, including the use of suicide bombers, have been employed by terrorists in neighboring Uzbekistan. As a result, the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek continues to maintain a heightened security posture.
U.S. Embassy personnel continue to observe heightened security precautions at work and in places where westerners congregate, as well as public places, such as markets and bazaars.
Travel by U.S. Government personnel to areas of Kyrgyzstan south and west of Osh is currently restricted. This is due to the history of IMU activity in the area and the presence of land mines in the Batken Oblast region and along the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border. The U.S. Embassy strongly recommends against travel to these areas.
U.S. citizens are urged to register and update their contact information at the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek. The U.S. Embassy in Bishkek is located at 171 Prospect Mira, 720016 Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. The phone number is 996-312-551-241, fax: 996-312-551-264, and website: http://www.usemb-bishkek.rpo.at.
Updated information on travel and security in the Kyrgyz Republic may be obtained from the Department of State by calling 1-888-407-4747 within the United States, or, from overseas, 1-202-501-4444. U.S. citizens should STATE 00054550 002 OF 002 consult the Department of State’s Consular Information Sheet for the Kyrgyz Republic , the Worldwide Caution Public Announcement , and the travel publication “A Safe Trip Abroad” , all of which are available on the Department’s Internet site at http://travel.state.gov.
B&B — I posted this in response to your concern. Stay calm, Matt is a smart one.
Sending positive energy,
MK
Uzbek city sealed after clashes
Uzbek security forces have sealed off the centre of Andijan city, where many people were shot dead on Friday.
A BBC correspondent says troops are on the streets, apparently hunting the leaders of anti-government protests.
It is still not known how many people died when soldiers opened fire on demonstrators in the city square. Estimates vary from dozens to hundreds.
Relatives are frantically searching morgues, hospitals and the city’s streets for those who died.
“I have been looking for two days for the bodies of my brothers,” Bakhadyr Yergachyov told the AFP news agency.
“I know that they had gone to the square to participate in the demonstrations.”
Figures disputed
Correspondents in Andijan report seeing up to 50 bodies on the streets, though some local witnesses said they had seen as many as 300.
The Associated Press cited a doctor saying 500 bodies had been laid out in a school for identification.
Official figures are much lower.
The BBC’s Monica Whitlock said without any independent humanitarian agencies operating in the region, the true figure may never emerge.
Andijan was mostly quiet overnight and on Sunday morning, though residents were reported to be still washing blood and hair from the streets.
Smoke billowed from a government building, reporters said, while sniper fire could be heard in the background.
A group of 530 refugees, including women and children, are said to have crossed the nearby border with Kyrgyzstan to a Red Cross camp on the other side.
At the border, Uzbek authorities were nowhere to be seen, following clashes with locals on Saturday, the BBC’s Ian MacWilliam reported.
The government should be blamed instead of the Islamic extremists. People are demanding bread and jobs
Lyudmila, Uzbekistan
In the border town of Karasu, he said, local people rebuilt two bridges that had been destroyed by Uzbek forces, and said they intended to resume the cross-border trade they had relied on for years.
Uzbek President Islam Karimov blamed the unrest in Andijan on what he described as criminals and Islamic radicals linked to the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir movement, who wanted to overthrow the government.
Mr Karimov, an ally of both Washington and Moscow’s war on terror, has taken a tough line on security since a spate of suicide bombings last year, blamed on Islamic extremists.
But critics say he is using the threat of extremism as a cover to crush dissents.
Many of those who had demonstrated in Andijan said it was poverty and unemployment – rather than political or religious demands – that brought them onto the streets.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4548299.stm
Published: 2005/05/15 10:14:23 GMT
© BBC MMV
450 feared killed in Uzbek clashes
KARA-SUU, Kyrgyzstan (CNN) — The streets of the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan are mostly empty after two days of clashes between soldiers and anti-government protesters that left hundreds dead, witnesses said.
Residents who fled Andijan 40 kilometers (25 miles) south to the Kyrgyz border town of Kara-Suu estimated the number killed on Friday and Saturday at 450, but journalists were barred from the area and could not independently confirm the death toll.
Witnesses said Sunday that many people had stayed home from work while others were burying their dead.
Just a few hundred meters (yards) from Kara-Suu, on the Uzbek side of the border, about 1,500 people gathered for several hours Sunday to hear anti-government speeches with no sign of Uzbek soldiers around, except for a burned out military vehicle nearby, according to journalist Ethan Wilensky-Lanford.
United Nations relief experts were dispatched along the border to assess the needs of refugees, although there did not appear to be a mass exodus from the region into Kyrgyzstan. On Saturday, a U.N. official said 528 people from Uzbekistan crossed the border into the Jalal-Abad area of Kyrgyzstan.
The roads leading from Andijan appeared to be blocked by Uzbek troops Sunday.
The violence began Thursday when a group of citizens angry about the arrest of several prominent business owners stormed the prison where they were being held on charges of religious extremism.
At one point, about 10,000 protesters gathered in the city center to demand the resignation of Uzbek President Islam Karimov and his authoritarian government, who are allies of the United States. The president’s office described them as criminals and extremists.
Karimov on Saturday blamed the violence on the Islamic radical group Hizb ut-Tahrir and said their goal was to establish an Islamic state and to destroy the current constitutional system.
Hizb ut-Tahrir has denied the accusations.
“The blame … has to be with Islam Karimov and his oppressive regime which has tortured and jailed thousands of innocent victims,” Imran Wahid, a Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesman in London, told Reuters.
“We want to undermine and overthrow the regime of Islam Karimov by peaceful means,” he added. (Full story)
“The blame for the violence should not lie with people who live under oppression,” he added.
Speaking at a news conference in the capital Tashkent, Karimov said he never gave an order to shoot as the unrest unfolded. He said 10 police were killed but on the criminal side “many, many more were killed and hundreds wounded.”
There has been tension, marked sometimes by arrests and violence, between Karimov’s government and followers of a more fundamental brand of Islam than what is sanctioned by Karimov. That movement has been centered in eastern Uzbekistan, which is somewhat isolated from the rest of Uzbekistan by mountains.
During the Soviet era, residents of the region were closely aligned with their neighbors in what is now southern Kyrgyzstan, where a large population of ethnic Uzbeks live.
Just a few miles from the Uzbek border is the city of Osh, the birthplace of a grassroots movement that successfully ousted Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev in March.
Censorship during protests
Journalist watchdog group Reporters Without Borders has expressed concern over the expulsion of journalists from Andijan.
“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 group said.
It reported that CNN, NTV and BBC TV were cut and Russian and Uzbek Web sites blocked Friday during the bloody confrontations, but that state TV and the national news agency continued to provide reports.
International reaction
Among those expressing deep concern Saturday was Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said the situation posed a “threat to the stability of Central Asia,” according to the Kremlin press office.
The instability in Uzbekistan follows the collapse and ouster of Askar Akayev’s government in neighboring Kyrgyzstan during protests in March.
The U.S. Embassy in Tashkent said Saturday that “American citizens in Andijan are encouraged to stay off the streets” and to contact the embassy directly or register via its Web site.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said: “We’ve been very clear about the human rights situation there, been very factual about it, but unfortunately the facts are not pretty.”
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw criticized anti-democratic conditions in the country Saturday and urged restraint on both sides.
He pointed out that as the UK approaches its presidency of the European Union, it will use the collective weight of that body to urge the Uzbek government to deal with what he called “patent failings in respect of human and civil rights.”
Also monitoring the situation is the Tashkent office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
CNN’s Mike Yardley contributed to this report.
Tell us more about day to day life. How was Bazaar Day? XXXXOOOO GQ
What is Bazaar Day?
This continues on the topic from Matt’s review
Uzbekistan: A Smoldering Fire of Conflicting Interests
DEBKAfile Special Report and Background
May 14, 2005, 1:35 PM (GMT+02:00)
DEBKA is the unofficial website of the Israeli Mossad.
Uzbek president Islam Karimov returned to his capital Friday night, May 13, after his troops cracked down on a violent disturbance in the eastern Uzbek town of Andijan. It was sparked by protesters storming and emptying the local prison, setting free 23 local Islamic leaders and 2000 inmates. Authorities say nine people were killed in the clashes with security forces. Protesters who filled the town square for two days say at least 200 died of indiscriminate shooting; bodies were seen to be removed by four trucks and a bus.
Despite the bloodshed of the day before, thousands streamed into Andijan’s streets Saturday morning amid sounds of sporadic gunfire. Thousands more attempted flight across the border into Kyrgyzstan but were stopped there.
The town tipped over into protest over the trial of 23 local men charged with belonging to an Islamic group called Akramia, named after Akram Tahir Yuldashev, leader of the al Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, who was sentenced in absentia to 17 years in prison in 1999. Akramia has set up small businesses that provide employment for the impoverished town and thousands more around the Ferghana Valley which is both poor and a hotbed of violent Islamic groups. One of the 23 men on trial told a reporter: “All we want is freedom from hunger. Uzbeks live like dirt.â€
It is not that simple. Uzbekistan’s unrest is a volatile brew of conflicting interests. As ruler since 1989 of the country of 26 million – the world’s third largest exporter of cotton – Karimov is one of the last Soviet-era rulers still in power. He has held on by rigged elections, questionable referenda, timely constitutional amendments and repression. He is challenged by two radical Islamic groups, Hizb-a-Tahrir and the IMU which is allied with al Qaeda, who are trying to unseat him. Karimov also stands accused of institutional torture; his methods of suppressing resistance have been denounced by Western human rights groups and the US state department.
The former Soviet republic is an important American ally in the global war on terror. It hosts American support bases for the war in Afghanistan. The White House spokesman Friday night urged restraint on both government and demonstrators.
The regime in Tashkent routinely blames the fundamentalist Hizb-ut-Tahrir for any violence in the country, although the troublemaker is more likely to be the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the IMU, whose founder Yuldashev, has nailed to his mast the goal of an Islamic state in the broad Ferghana Valley which straddles Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. His training camps and bases are located not far from the Afghan and Chinese borders.
In March and April, 2004, the IMU staged a wave of suicide terror attacks, the first seen in the republic. They were followed by street battles in which around 50 people were killed, 33 of them IMU adherents, among them 15 suicide bombers. In July, the group went on to send suicide bombers against the US and Israeli embassies and the Uzbek prosecutor-general’s office in Tashkent. Three Uzbek guards were killed and 9 injured.
This wave of violence was sparked by Yuldashev’s return to Tashkent. After spending most of the 1990s in Afghanistan with Osama bin Laden, he had moved to South Waziristan – only to flee in early 2004 from the massive US-backed Pakistan military hunt for top al Qaeda men in that lawless region.
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan was founded in 1989, the same year Karimov took power, to become his most implacable enemy. Its exact membership is believed to be smaller than Hizb a-Tahrir’s 4,000 to 7,000 adherents. During Taliban rule in Afghanistan, dozens and perhaps hundreds of eager Uzbek supporters crossed south for intensive guerrilla training and Islamic religious indoctrination. Since the Taliban were ousted, IMU has declared war on the American air force and special forces presence in the country. Before 2004, they killed two US soldiers and wounded several others and tried to kidnap Americans from a secret base to ransom their jailed comrades. In neighboring Tajikistan, IMU agents are fed funds and logistical support by the Iranian embassy.
The multinational Islamic Hizb a-Tahrir (The Liberation Party), forced underground in much of Central Asia as well as Russia, maintains cells in most Muslim countries. Founded in the Middle East in 1953, Hizb a-Tarir is older, larger and less virulent than Yuldashev’s IMU although just as radical. Its leader Vahid Omran has stressed his movement’s goals as being to disseminate the word of Islam – not spread death. Nonetheless Hizb a-Tahrir cannot be counted out of any surge of violence in Uzbekistan considering the brutal persecution its followers suffer at the hands of the Karimov regime; 500 are currently in jail.
Hizb a-Tahrir supporters live mainly in Samarkand and Bukhara, two important religious centers of the golden age of Islam situated along the traditional Silk Road. It maintains an office in London. Like many other parties and organizations in Central Asia, Hizb too runs bases of operation in the southeastern Ferghana region near the border with Tajikistan. There, young Uzbeks are indoctrinated in Islamic fundamentalism and recruited into a “Muslim Education Corpsâ€. Their proximity to al Qaeda and other fundamentalist Islamic facilities gives rise to the charge in Tashkent that the party is not just dispensing “education†but building terrorist cells.
Such education consists of the familiar Islamic fundamentalist fare of nostalgia for past Islamic glories, homophobia, anti-Semitism and more recently, anti-Americanism.
Numbering an estimated 5,000 to 20,000 members around the Muslim world, Hizb a- Tahrir dreams of establishing a pan-Islamic caliphate rather than an Islamic republic across Central Asia, also targeting the Ferghana Valley as its world center.
While not openly committed to violence, the Liberation Party will strike hard if an opportunity presents itself to overthrow the Uzbek or any other secular regime. At some crucial point, therefore, Omran could switch tactics and make a grab for power.
Karimov’s troubles are far from over.
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Straw says there bad!
Nice to know my uzbek road trip blog “funny look at Uzbek daily life, as a primer” is still worthy after all these years. I check my web site “phaster” logs every once in a while and see whats going on, that BTW is how I traced back here….
So living by the big town of Shakrisabz, eh? I kind of made it by that area for a few days, and from what I recall there wasn’t much in the way of tourist stuff there, Samarkand is the place PCV (at the time) told me was the best place to get a decent meal and beer. But I’m sure ya know that in that region Samarkand is the best place to take unofficial leave from your sites for a day or so, for a more adventurious unofficial leave back packing in the tajik mountains is another nice break (or so I was told).
I kinda had a feeling this would be a big comment post. Just for the record, I’m not a big fan of pasting entire articles into the comments. I would prefer that users post a link to the source. Just don’t post more than one or two links or else my spam filter will pick up on it – furthermore, I prefer a little analysis of the news rather than just the news itself.
And Ben, its funny that you made it back here. I read your site again here in my maktab and was laughing out loud. This place is strange indeed.
Matt, that’s a fascinating sum-up of the history in Uzbekistan, and well written too. It looks like Uzbekistan is in some pretty formative years right now, and the country could go anywhere. I wouldn’t want to see Uzbekistan turn into Iran, but the outright suppression of all religion isn’t doing it any good either. Talk about a rock and a hard place.
I remember you said in one of your earlier posts that the kids you are teaching are quite literally the hope of the nation. At the risk of sounding like a self-satisfied foreigner, I think a lot of the hope the kids themselves will need is going to have to come from outside.
laughing out loud eh? Over the past few years, I’ve seen that people have had discussions about my post on UZ, and it seems that every year or so new uzbek exchange students that reach college level have their own take on my little story (kind of along the same lines that I added about a year after was there)
http://www.phaster.com/unpretentious/view_of_uzbekistan.html
so your school (maktab) has net access? if ya get a chance there is was a story on night line this past week on how much china has changed in the past 30 years…
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/
it’s kind of interesting seeing film 30 years ago of teachers picking cotton, kind of what was happening when I was in the land of UZ a few years ago.. I hope in a few years to get back to that part of the world to see how things change, I think that would be interesting to see what my impressions would be of that area in 25 years and post them.
btw speaking of net access, here is an idea that I think would be kind of neat in that part of the world, community wifi networks. I’ve been kind of helping out a group of nerds that like the stuff and we’ve been wiring up affordible housing projects here in San Diego. I’ve even built a few nodes my self for my own buildings in the neighborhood
http://www.phaster.com/golden_hill_free_web/
ben
I was interested by your post, ben. At my maktab, the computers and the internet has been provided by IREX, which is a US agengy. So, the short story is, were it not for IREX, this school would have neither computers nor internet, like most maktabs in this country. Which is rotten, because the kids in more rural areas are just living without internet. Considering that Uzbekistan has been developed, (although the infastracture sucks we can manage a 50.6 k connection here,) it is present. But the money hasn’t been put into that. I mean, why would a repressive government work to increase peoples’ access to information? So your digital divide between the havs and the have nots operates on a smaller level within country. Rich people and those living in the big cities here have much greater access, and those who don’t don’t. So whereas altruistic motives may motivate some companies to do the right thing, end user implementation is severely lacking.
BTW, the kids at my school use the internet for two things – one is email with freinds. This is good as it is a form of information exchange. The second is to download clips of popular songs. This is simply a waste of time. Its a double edged sword for sure, but with more education about HOW to use the internet and better education of English speakers, the good will soon outweigh the bad here.
~Matt
The other interesting thing to consider re: IREX that American company sponsor of computer technology in Uzbekistan is that there are plenty of poor rural American kids without computer access.
“Rich people and those living in the big cities here have much greater access, and those who don’t don’t.” This easily applies here as well. 🙁
matt,
I’ve kind of been using computers for more years than I’d like to admit to but, its not too surprising that your student use the web for eMail (it was the so called killer application that allowed researchers to communicate ideas way back in the late 60’s when UNIX was just getting started).
As far as students down loading “clips” that is to be expected given that was the so called killer use of the net for the masses (that is non nerds used the net to exchange music, or “stealing” music as the RIAA would frame the issue).
In both cases its basically the same thing an exchange of ideas and information, the web does have the potential to be a pretty good tool as ya pointed out do research and exchange ideas, like wise the web can be a pretty big was of time with lots of bandwidth going toward downloading music and porn.
From what I’ve observed the problem is people in general, I mean its human nature to go for the quick buck, the shot of instant satisfaction, etc. You can expose people to all kind of interesting technology (like the web) but the fact of the matter is most people won’t make efficient use of that technology. In general this idea applies in all sorts of endeavors (i.e. if someone give me a violin or some other kind of string musical instrument and I’d be hard pressed to know what to do with it). In this little antidote, hopefully over time I’d take an interest in learing more about musical instruments, likewise hopefully over time people might be motivated to use the web to benefit there fellow human being.
GQ
Even within the USA there is and always will be a great diversity of adaptation in many fields like technology, and I’d say that is because of $$$ and culture. Its the nature of the beast, and I’d suggest that by looking at only one aspect (i.e. technology), ya might be missing something just as important.
For example I’ve helped set up network for low income individuals and from what I’ve seen many individuals WITHOUT $$$ could care less about technology like the web because they are trying to make a living and don’t have the cultural awareness or interest to develope their ability to use technology as a tool. I’ve also seen the opposite extreme, that is some geeks helping deploy community networks think every one needs to plug in 24/7 with the latest technology.
IMHO technology is just one aspect of living a life, think of it this way there are lots of rich folks with high speed web access and 500 channel digital cable TV, who drive fancy SUVs, and I’d bet that even with all that crap I’d say they aren’t really living life or enjoying it cause they have become slaves to those material goods. I picked up this little insight while hanging out with some pretty poor people on a reservation. These people didn’t have much money, but they did have a pretty close community and time to enjoy one another company…