Local Uzbek human rights activists have been attempting to document the plight of ethnic Uzbeks fleeing pogroms in their villages in neighboring Kyrgyzstan, which they report have been perpetrated by Kyrgyz civilians as well as military personnel. Yet having fled the frightening attacks in Kyrgyzstan, ethnic Uzbeks are now facing harassment in Uzbekistan by the authoritarian government of President Islam Karimov.
With reports of renewed violence and continued attacks on ethnic Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan, international and local NGOs have repeatedly called on the United Nations to respond by sending peace-keepers to the scene to deter violence. Reports from observers in Osh say that locals believe even a small number of armed foreign troops would help prevent escalation of the unrest.
Yet ultimately, for structural as well as geopolitical reasons, like many other humanitarian crises in the world, some with far higher numbers of persons affected, the situation on the border of Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan is likely not to be addressed by the UN Security Council or UN Human Rights Council effectively or even at all, and as many similar situations, it will be left to agencies like the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to respond directly to the more narrow issue of immediate care of refguees.
The recent ethnic clashes in Osh have sent the local rumor mill into overdrive. Starved of reliable information and isolated in their communities, people have been chewing events over among themselves. In some cases, especially in the Uzbek mahallas (neighborhoods) where people blocked themselves inside for fear of attack, they became convinced that the most unlikely sounding events were talking place beyond the barricades.
One of the most popular topics of conversation has been snipers. In many Uzbek mahallas, inhabitants offer convincing testimony of gunmen targeting their neighborhoods from vantage points. Men barricaded into the Arygali Niyazov neighborhood, for example, testified to seeing gunmen on the upper floors of a nearby medical institute hostel with a view over the district's narrow streets. They said that during the height of the violence these gunmen were covering attackers and looters, assaulting their area with sniper fire. Men in other Uzbek neighborhoods tell similar stories.
Whatever the truth about these gunmen, the idea of snipers has assumed a life of its own. Many people are convinced that they’ve seen foreign mercenaries acting as snipers. These alleged foreign combatants are distinguished by their appearance – inhabitants report seeing black snipers and tall, blonde, female snipers from the Baltic states. The idea that English snipers have been roaming the streets of Osh shooting at Uzbeks is also popular. There’ve been no independent corroborations of such sightings by foreign journalists or representatives of international organizations.
Another rumor that’s been doing the rounds is that plans existed to poison water supplies to the Uzbek mahallas. No one can give a convincing explanation of how supplies to Uzbek areas could be poisoned without affecting Kyrgyz neighborhoods, given that they’re interspersed throughout the city.
On a trip to view the devastation following a week of attacks on ethnic Uzbeks in southern Kyrgyzstan, Roza Otunbayeva, head of the interrim government of Kyrgyzstan, said that as many as 2,000 people could have been killed in the riots, 10 times the official death toll of 223 acknowledged by her government's Ministry of Health, the Associated Press reported.
Nevertheless, Otunbayaev vowed to press forward with a referendum on the constitution that would set the stage for elections and legitimization of her government, AKIpress.org reported.
"If we do not hold the referendum, we will not break out of this chaos, we will be dragged down in a funnel effect," she said.
She noted that likely there would be areas where the interim government could not hold a vote, but there would be areas where election districts would be open. "We will try to hold the referendum," she said.
The United Nations has increased the estimates of displaced persons to as many as 400,000, and that as many as a million people would require aid due to ongoing unrest. At least 100,000 have fled into Uzbekistan.
The International Crisis Group and Human Rights Watch issued a joint appeal to the UN Security Council to intervene to ensure the responsibility of the international community to protect victims of massive human rights violations:
Much has been made in recent months of Turkey's ambitious new foreign policy posture, which seeks to turn the country into a major regional and even global diplomatic player. A lot of that activity has been centered in the Middle East, an area the Turks believe they have "strategic depth" because of their historical links to the region.
But the recent troubles in Kyrgyzstan have led to criticism in Turkey that Ankara's focus on the Middle East is coming at the expense of its influence among the Turkic countries of Central Asia and ability to act on their behalf. For more, read here and here.
Turkish officials have denied these charges, pointing out that they are working hard to play a central role in resolving the Kyrgyz conflict. More on that here.
Kyrgyzstan’s ombudsman, Tursunbek Akun, has flatly denied any involvement on the part of Kyrgyz troops in the atrocities inflicted on the Uzbek community in Osh.
Responding to questions from EurasiaNet on June 17, Akun insisted reports to the contrary were “total disinformation.”
“The Kyrgyz Army does not shoot at peaceful citizens. This is total disinformation and incorrect information. There were unknown people driving in cars without car plates in military uniform who were shooting at everyone,” he said.
Testimony from the survivors of almost a week of bloodshed in Kyrgyzstan’s southern provinces differs significantly.
A range of organizations are now calling for a full and independent investigation into the events that have left hundreds dead and 400,000 displaced, according to the United Nations.
Kyrgyzstan’s interim government is trying to influence coverage of the recent violence to promote its version of events. Such behavior is unsurprising anywhere. But something very similar has been going on in international media coverage since the start, only with a different bias and a degree of conformity (collusion even?) that gives the illusion of authoritativeness.
The rough narratives are as follows.
Kyrgyz Interim Government: “It is clear that the roots of the conflict are the provocations organized by armed militants and criminal elements to promote the interests of the political forces that support them.”
(Read: "See, the previous regime is made up of devils intent on destroying Kyrgyzstan at any cost. We are building a new nation and this will be an essential verse in our foundation myth.")
International media parachuting in: “This is an old-fashioned Central Asian pogrom, genocide, a brutal act of ethnic-cleansing, the slaughter and rape of Uzbeks by rampaging Kyrgyz mobs.”
Is this a deliberate editorial policy? An “if in doubt, exaggerate” approach born from guilt over previous failures to recognize and prevent genocide, most obviously in Rwanda? Or simple sensationalism and lazy journalism from editors that don’t understand Kyrgyzstan, but know their readers don’t either? Either way, it is hard to defend.
The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) will help Kyrgyzstan in spotting the masterminds of recent riots in the south of the republic, says the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The Moscow-led CSTO didn't seem too interested in getting involved when Kyrgyzstan was beset with violence.
Unscrupulous law-enforcement officers and criminal gangs are hampering the distribution of humanitarian aid destined for victims of the violence in southern Kyrgyzstan, according to multiple reports by Kyrgyzstan's 24.kg agency.
Roadblocks set up on major roads have become choke points for aid shipments making their way from Bishkek southward. Jamila Kaparova, the head of Ensan-Diamond, a women’s rights organization, said aid convoys were being looted by “young men standing on barricades.”
Authorities also were seeing the humanitarian aid effort as an opportunity to engage in corrupt practices, alleged Tolekan Ismailova, the head of the human rights organization Citizens Against Corruption. “There are fears, and they are not groundless, that officials in Bishkek can attach their hands to the humanitarian aid that other countries send to victims of conflict in Osh,” 24.kg quoted Ismailova as saying on June 16.
“It’s sheer ugliness. Do you know how many there are who seem to wish to cash in on this human tragedy? The interim government should break this chain of corruption, otherwise it will only get worse,” she added.
Some NGO activists assert that the humanitarian assistance reaching the South is not being distributed in an equitable fashion. For example, human rights activist Elena Voronina told 24.kg it is “unsafe” to deliver aid in Uzbek areas of Osh, adding that those who try to do so are “threatened with physical harm if they give assistance to Uzbek-speaking citizens.”
After a week of violence in southern Kyrgyzstan, concerns have mounted that an accurate count has still not been made of those killed in pogroms of ethnic Uzbek communities. According to a Deutsche Welle (DW) report, the Uzbek community in Jalal-Abad is saying that there have been about 700 Uzbeks killed in that city alone, although the Kyrgyz Interim Government has not confirmed the deaths. Interfax has reported that the bodies of many who have been killed have been stacked in mosques in Jalal-Abad and have not yet been buried due to ongoing gunfire and attacks, DW reported. The International Committee of the Red Cross has reported that bodies are being buried without first identifying them and notifying relatives. Jaloliddin Salahutdinov, head of the Uzbek National Center told Associated Press that more than 200 Uzbeks have been buried, DW reported.
A group of exiles working with citizens from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan have decided to form an Interrim Committee to Cover Events in Southern Kyrygyzstan and release independent news bulletins, given what they see as both a news blackout and deliberate misreporting by local authorities to the central government and press of Kyrgyzstan. As Kyrgyz authorities attempt to block news coverage and the Uzbek government has also been selective in accounts, competing narratives are fueling the conflict, reports EurasiaNet.
