Kyrgystan

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Ethnic tension rising in southern Kyrgyzstan says report
By James Kilner, The Telegraph
31 March 2012

Uzbeks flee ethnic fighting in southern Kyrgyzstan in 2010
(C) AFP/Getty Images

In a 23-page report published this week, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) wrote that leaders in Osh and other cities in the south of the former Soviet state have been pursuing anti-Uzbek policies which have disenfranchised and frustrated the large Uzbek community.

“While Uzbeks are far from embracing violence and have no acknowledged leaders, their conversations are turning to retribution, or failing that a final lashing out at their perceived oppressors,” ICG wrote.

The report will make tough reading for Almazbek Atambayev, the Kyrgyz president, who won an election in October by campaigning on national unity.  (read more)

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Survivors tell of ‘hurricane of hatred’ from gangs in Uzbek
By The Times
20 June 2010

(C) The Moscow Times

Stunned by the hurricane of hatred that has devastated their lives and swept away their homes, the survivors recounted the same story: the ethnic slaughter in Osh, they insisted, was not simply a clash between Kyrgyz and Uzbek groups, but an attempt to expel, even exterminate, the Uzbek community in Kyrgyzstan’s second-largest city.
Police and soldiers, they said, had been in the vanguard of mobs that shot unarmed civilians and ransacked Uzbek neighbourhoods.
In the ruins of the city’s Uzbek district of Cheryomushki, traumatised residents described three waves of attack as Kyrgyz gangs systematically destroyed their homes in an orgy of murder, rape, looting and arson. They claimed that an armoured personnel carrier led the initial charge, with men in uniform firing at civilians.
”Soldiers shot at people, then Kyrgyz groups went from house to house attacking Uzbeks with knives and guns,” said Kustniden Azhimjanov, 36. ”They raped women in their homes. We could hear the screaming but we could not help them because we had no guns.
‘Then the third group came through, stealing everything they could and setting fire to the houses. They were shouting: ‘Uzbeks get out or we’ll kill you all’!” (Read more)

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For earlier articles, please see the “Archived Updates” section on Kyrgyzstan’s page.

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