ANDIJAN, May 17: Uzbekistan’s hardline government dramatically increased its estimated death toll Tuesday from a bloody crackdown in the eastern city of Andijan, as international pressure grew on President Islam Karimov. Prosecutor general Rashid Kadyrov conceded that the toll was 169 — far higher than a previous official estimate of about 30 and still a long way below most independent accounts, including one from opposition activists of 745.
As the United States and the European Union joined Britain in urging Karimov to show restraint, a small group of opposition protestors held a rare demonstration outside the US embassy in the capital Tashkent. Andijan itself was mostly calm, but still tense following sporadic gunfire during the night and a continuing heavy military presence.
The Free Farmers, one of the few opposition groups in the autocratic Central Asian ex-Soviet republic, announced that a detailed survey in Andijan revealed a significantly higher death toll than previously feared. “We started house-to-house checks two days ago and this figure of 745 was for yesterday (Monday). Today we’re checking again and it might be more,” the party’s leader Nigara Hidoyatova told AFP.
Witnesses say that most of the bloodshed in Andijan on Friday happened when troops — sent to subdue a group of gunmen who had stormed the local prison and taken over several public buildings — sprayed gunfire into crowds of demonstrators.
Uzbek officials say the scale of the violence was much lower and that most of those killed were the gunmen, whom they describe as Islamic revolutionaries.
Karimov, a former Soviet leader of Uzbekistan and iron-fisted ruler there since independence in 1991, said a “massive campaign” was under way in the Western media to discredit his government. Karimov also repeated denials that his forces had shot at unarmed demonstrators — something witnessed by an AFP reporter and many witnesses. “No government in the world would shoot on peaceful demonstrators,” he said.
US and Russian fears of instability in mostly Muslim Central Asia mean that criticism of Karimov has generally been muted. Karimov is also considered a valuable ally in Washington because he allowed the use of a major air base for use in operations across the border in Afghanistan.
But criticism is hardening. US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States was “deeply disturbed” by the violence. “We had urged and continue to urge the Uzbek government to exercise restraint, stressing that violence cannot lead to long-term stability,” he said.
In Brussels, a spokeswoman for the external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said “we are deeply concerned by what we see and what we hear.” British Foreign Minister Jack Straw has called the Andijan violence “a clear abuse of human rights” and “totally condemned” the shooting of demonstrators.
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier “condemned the violence, which cannot be justified,” a spokesman said. The United Nations has also called for restraint, while the Swiss government said it would review its development aid contributions for Tashkent.
Only China and Russia offered support to Karimov, 67, blaming the violence on what they said were Islamic rebels and warning against the risk of further instability.—AFP
