From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Mon Aug 29 2005 - 09:40:55 EDT
Russian paper urges more antiterror cooperation with Uzbekistan
Russia should help Uzbekistan fight terrorism and drug trafficking, as
this will ensure Russia's own security, Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya
Gazeta has said. The paper said Islamists aimed to seize power in the
Fergana Valley and sacred Islamic sites - Buxoro and Samarqand. The
article accused Hezb-e Tahrir of training radical Islamists who go on to
stage terrorist acts. It also said that the Akramiya group, which was
accused by the Uzbek authorities of organizing the Andijon unrest, was
using methods similar to those of Hamas to extend its influence. The
following is the text of the article by Sergey Markov headlined: "They
Are Attacking" and published by the newspaper on 24 August; subheadings
inserted editorially:
Russia is currently faced with the need to formulate new policies with
regard to Uzbekistan. It has several interests with regard to this
country: strategic stability, economic cooperation and extending the
sphere of the Russian world. Russia needs Uzbekistan. There, in Central
Asia, runs one of the primary lines of Russia's defence in very
important spheres of our security - from terrorism to drugs trafficking.
Threats to strategic stability
Russia's most important interest is strategic stability. Here,
Uzbekistan defends Russian interests as well in pursuing its own.
Strategic stability in Central Asia may be undermined by two forces:
Islamic radicalism and the international drugs mafia. Let us note that
in view of the Islamic radicals' attack on America - a super power
aspiring to world supremacy - the world media are currently writing
about the threat of radical Islam. But in real life, the global networks
of the international drugs mafia are more powerful and more extensive.
It is just that, contrary to the Islamists, they are not attacking
America and are not trying to seize power in entire states. These two
forces play an active role in the region and both are enemies of the
Uzbek government.
Radical Islamists aim to seize Fergana Valley
Radical Islamists - after the collapse of the bi-polar world and
Communist ideology, after the impoverishment of a number of regions in
view of the cessation of economic aid from Moscow - are attempting to
seize the minds of millions of the poor. Radical Islamists are
attempting to seize power first and foremost in the Fergana Valley where
there is the highest concentration of population in Central Asia, where
poverty levels are higher than usual and where Islam has always been
influential. The Fergana Valley is divided between three states:
Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. But the Islamists consider these
borders artificial and are attempting to seize power in this entire
region.
There are several radical Islamist organizations in the region, which
are often so closely interwoven with one another that they are hard to
distinguish. And, in general, the political style of the Islamists is
very different from the classical Western style. For example, our
left-wing can be either members of the CPRF [Communist Party of the
Russian Federation] or Rodina or the National Bolshevik Party but you
are unlikely to find anyone who is a member of all three organizations
at the same time. Whereas members of radical Islamic cells take one name
if they are committing a terrorist act against America, another name if
it is against Israel and yet another if it is against the local
government. From this point of view, they seem metamorphous in
organizational terms. The base remains as it was
- these are semi-autonomous Islamic cells taking part in radical Islamic
practices.
Hezb-e Tahrir trains radical Islamists
For a long time, the Islamist Movement of Uzbekistan was the leading
radical Islamic organization, after it was crushed by the government
Hezb-e Tahrir came to the fore. In general terms, Hezb-e Tahrir was not
created for terrorism but for educational and civilian political
programmes. In fact, the radical Islamists have a division of labour:
Hezb-e Tahrir selects civilian Muslims, pushes them through its
programmes and releases radical Islamists. Then it hands them over to
terrorist organizations to take part in underground political activity,
terrorist acts and the overthrowing of governments.
In Uzbekistan, Hezb-e Tahrir has already started to directly participate
in underground political activity.
Akramiya group likened to Hamas
Subsequently, another radical religious group broke away from it -
Akramiya, created by Akram Yoldoshev, an individual without religious
education but who is very energetic and with a preacher's inclinations.
At one time he was an emir for Hezb-e Tahrir in Uzbekistan. Several
years ago, radicals organized a series of explosions in Tashkent with
the aim of destabilizing the situation and organizing an attack on Uzbek
President Islam Karimov. In May this year, they organized a rebellion in
Andijon, seizing the local jail where their activists were imprisoned,
they reached the local traffic police's weapons dump and tried to seize
a military unit and the building belonging to the local security
service.
It is interesting that Akramiya uses methods similar to those used by
the Hamas movement in Palestine to extend its influence. They deploy
large programmes of social support, replacing the weak systems of state
social provision. They use effective techniques to get money: they help
each new member of the underground organization to set up his own small
business, acquire equipment and register and they provide the so-called
"protection". Then this businessman and member of an underground cell
must deduct 20 per cent of his income for political activity. Moreover,
the existence of these businesses naturally enhances the social status
of the members of the underground organization in the local community.
And the problem of social status is always necessary for the opposition.
It is typical that on the eve of the armed uprising in Andijon every
person taking part in it received a suit. This was done to enhance their
social status since in a locality where the population predominantly had
a rural mentality, a group of people in suits looks respectable,
inspires respect and demonstrates the high social status of the
organization and its members.
Islamists aspire to control Buxoro, Samarqand
The pressure of international terrorist Islamic networks on Uzbekistan
will increase since Uzbekistan includes not only the Fergana but also
sacred places in the Islamic world - Buxoro and Samarqand - where many
great Islamic thinkers, on whose work the Islamic clergy were brought
up, worked in the Middle Ages. The radical Islamists, who are trying to
overthrow the authorities in all states with a predominantly Islamic
population, are striving to create a world Islamic Caliphate.
In order to seize ideological power over the minds of hundreds of
thousands of Muslims it is important for the radical Islamists to
control the emblems of Islam. Mecca and Medina are, in their view,
controlled by the pro-American rulers of Saudi Arabia. Baghdad was
controlled by the Islamists' enemy Saddam Husayn and now directly by the
Americans. And in connection with this, the seizure of Buxoro and
Samarqand would enable the radical Islamists to prove themselves as
world leaders of Islam in the name of centuries-old Islamic history.
World community fails to help Uzbekistan
The leaders of Uzbekistan as members of a secular elite are inclined
towards harsh opposition to radical Islam. However, the countries of the
world community are not giving them sufficient support in this battle.
For instance, Great Britain refused to ban the radical Hezb-e Tahrir
organization, which even had its main headquarters in London, despite
repeated requests from the Uzbek leaders. And it was only the Islamic
terrorist acts in London on 7 July 2005 which forced the British to do
this.
Britain and America have condemned the excessive brutality of the
suppression of the rebellion in Andijon. But it is always difficult to
measure the degree of force used against a harsh opponent. It was not
for nothing that the British police shot an illegal immigrant from
Brazil in the underground, suspecting him of terrorism simply because of
his too warm jacket. And the American troops under the pressure of an
uprising in Al-Fallujah in Iraq killed thousands of civilians and did
not even allow anyone to count the exact number of victims.
The Uzbek leaders understand the terrible threat of Islamism and are
fighting it on several fronts at once - both the forcible suppression of
underground military formations and an active propaganda war against
radical Islamism and the development of traditional Islam, which opposes
radical Islam. This means both the development of a secular education
system and the fight against poverty. But Uzbekistan needs support in
this battle. In fighting Islam, the Uzbekistan government is fighting
our opponents.
Drug trafficking
The second area in which Uzbekistan is our strategic ally is the fight
against drugs trafficking, especially since the situation has
deteriorated there in recent years. America is not capable of
establishing a proper government in Afghanistan and has been forced to
enter into a deal with field commanders in order to maintain stability:
the latter do not attack America and the government in Kabul and America
closes its eyes to the fact that the field commanders are organizing the
mass production of drugs in the regions under their control. This drugs
business, which has increased 10-fold, is trying to carve its way into
Russia and further into Europe. The drugs barons have been able to
achieve the Russian border guards' departure from the Tajik-Afghan
border and have more or less placed this under their own control and
they are now trying to create oases of their power both in Uzbekistan
and in the neighbouring republics.
Russian help needed in fighting terrorism, drugs
In both these spheres of their struggle -against terrorism and drugs
trafficking -the Uzbek authorities are defending not only their own but
also our interests. Russia should help Uzbekistan in this skirmish both
technically and politically and in terms of news coverage, especially in
the international arena, where the Uzbek authorities are subjected to
constant pressure. Cooperation at the expert level is also needed and
the establishment of an internal political dialogue aimed at
strengthening the political system there. Everything needs to be done to
preserve political stability in this region.
Source: Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Moscow, in Russian 24 Aug 05
BBC Mon CAU 280805 nu/fbis
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