100,000 Uzbek refugees seek safety at border

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100614/ap_on_re_as/as_kyrgyzstan_unrest

100,000 Uzbek refugees seek safety at border

By SASHA MERKUSHEV and YURAS KARMANAU, Associated Press Writers Sasha Merkushev

And Yuras Karmanau, Associated Press Writers – 8 mins ago

OSH, Kyrgyzstan – About 100,000 minority Uzbeks fleeing mobs of Kyrgyz massed at

the border Monday, an Uzbek leader said, as the deadliest ethnic violence to hit

this Central Asian nation in 20 years left a major city smoldering.

Fires raged for a fourth day in the southern city of Osh, three miles (five

kilometers) from the border with Uzbekistan. The official count was 124 dead and

nearly 1,500 injured since the violence began last week, but an Uzbek community

leader said at least 200 Uzbeks had already been buried, and the Red Cross said

its delegates saw about 100 bodies being buried in just one cemetery.

The United States and Russia, which both have military bases in Kyrgyzstan away

from the violence, worked on humanitarian aid airlifts, as did the United

Nations. Neighboring Uzbekistan hastily set up camps to handle the flood of

hungry, frightened refugees. Most were women, children and the elderly, many of

whom Uzbekistan said had gunshot wounds.

The interim government, which took over when former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev

was ousted in an April uprising, has been unable to stop the violence and

accused Bakiyev's family of instigating it to halt a June 27 referendum on a new

constitution. Uzbeks, who are a minority in Kyrgyzstan as a whole but whose

numbers rival the Kyrgyz in the south of the country, have backed the interim

government. Many Kyrgyz in the south have supported Bakiyev.

The government said Monday it had arrested a " well-known person " suspected of

stoking the violence, but gave no other details. Suspects from Tajikistan,

Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan were also detained and claimed to have been hired by

supporters of Bakiyev, government spokesman Farid Niyazov said.

It now appears unlikely this month's referendum will take place. New

parliamentary elections are scheduled for October, but the violence appears

aimed at undermining the interim government before then.

From his self-imposed exile in Belarus, Bakiyev has denied any role in the

violence. Speaking to reporters Monday, he again blamed the interim government

for not preventing the rioting and called on the Moscow-dominated Collective

Security Treaty Organization to send in troops. The new Kyrgyz government asked

Russia to send troops, but the Kremlin turned down the request.

Jallahitdin Jalilatdinov, who heads the Uzbek National Center, told The

Associated Press on Monday that at least 100,000 Uzbeks were awaiting entry into

Uzbekistan, while another 80,000 had crossed the border. The Uzbek government

said 45,000 had already been registered.

An AP reporter saw hundreds of Uzbek refugees stuck in a no-man's-land at a

border crossing near Jalal-Abad. An AP photographer saw hundreds of refugees in

a camp on the Uzbek side.

Shaken refugees claimed that many Uzbek girls had been raped and that Kyrgyz

snipers had shot at them from the hills as they rushed toward the border.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay expressed alarm at the

violence and urged the authorities to protect all citizens irrespective of their

ethnicity.

" It seems indiscriminate killings, including of children, and rapes have been

taking place on the basis of ethnicity, " Pillay said in a statement.

" This is a very dangerous situation, given the ethnic patchwork in this part of

Kyrgyzstan, as well as in neighboring areas of Uzbekistan, " she said. " It has

been known for many years that this region is a potential tinder box, and for

that reason it is essential that the authorities act firmly to halt the fighting

— which appears to be orchestrated, targeted and well-planned — before it

spreads further inside Kyrgyzstan or even across the border into neighboring

countries. "

The fertile Ferghana Valley, where Osh and Jalal-Abad are located, once belonged

to a single feudal lord, but was split by Soviet dictator f Stalin among

Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, rekindling old rivalries.

In 1990, hundreds were killed in a land dispute between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in

Osh, Kyrgyzstan's second-largest city, and only the quick deployment of Soviet

troops quelled the fighting. A year later, the Soviet Union collapsed, and new

tensions rose between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan over distribution of irrigation

water, natural gas and electricity.

Uzbeks make up 15 percent of Kyrgyzstan's 5 million people and are generally

better off economically, but they have few representatives in power and have

pushed for broader political and cultural rights. Both ethnic groups are

predominantly Sunni Muslim.

Few police or troops were seen on the streets of Osh, a city of 250,000. Food

and water were scarce after armed looters smashed stores, stealing everything

from TVs to food. Cars stolen from ethnic Uzbeks raced around the city, most

crowded with young Kyrgyz wielding sharpened sticks, axes and metal rods.

In the mainly Uzbek district of Aravanskoe, an area formerly brimming with shops

and restaurants, whole streets were burned to the ground. In one

still-smoldering building, an AP photographer saw three charred bodies.

Hundreds gathered at Osh's central square to get on buses for the airport.

Gunmen have made the road from the city to the airport too dangerous to tackle

alone.

Osh Police Chief Kursan Asanov told AP that 950 foreigners — mostly Russians,

Pakistanis, Indians and Africans — have been evacuated since disturbances began,

as well as Uzbek and Kyrgyz residents.

" The entire city is in the state of panic — you see for yourselves — because all

people have children, " said resident Galina Nikolayevna.

Mukaddas Jamolova, 54, from Kara-Su, near Osh, said she saw looters burn down

many Uzbek homes. She said her house was not burned down but the family can't

flee to Uzbekistan as they fear armed attackers.

In another city beset by violence, Jalal-Abad, 25 miles (40 kilometers) from

Osh, armed Kyrgyz massed at the central square to hunt down an Uzbek community

leader who they blame for starting the trouble.

In the village of Sura-Tash, ethnic Uzbeks converted a mosque into a makeshift

hospital. Using rudimentary supplies, health workers treated anyone who came in

with wounds from beatings or ordinary conditions such as heat exhaustion and

diabetes.

Some sought shade in the mosque, but hundreds were forced to wait outside in the

sun.

Vodka was used to sterilize medical equipment and powdered plaster was melted

down to turn into casts for broken limbs.

One doctor said those who attacked the Uzbeks seemed to have the support of the

Kyrgyz military.

" Many people have died, snipers fired from more than one kilometer away, and

organized gangs followed the military as they drove in with armored personnel

carriers, " said Dr. Lutsalla Khakimov, who was working at the mosque. " This was

organized, they wanted to start a war. "

Some victims said they had been raped.

As the clashes continued, desperately needed aid began trickling into the south.

Several planes arrived at Osh's airport with tons of medical supplies from the

World Health Organization. Trucks carried supplies into the city with an armed

escort.

The U.S. had a shipment of tents, cots and medical supplies ready to fly to Osh

from its Manas air base in Bishkek, the U.S. Embassy said.

The U.S. and Russia military bases are in northern Kyrgyzstan, away from the

rioting. Russia sent in an extra battalion to protect its air base. The U.S.

Manas air base is a crucial supply hub for the coalition fighting the Taliban in

Afghanistan.

___

Karmanau reported from Bishkek. Also contributing were Associated Press writer

Leila Saralayeva in Bishkek, D. Dalton in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, and Mansur

Mirovalev in Moscow.