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Uzbekistan’s chief rejects probe into bloody rioting

Uzbek refugees sleep in a refugee camp near the border with Uzbekistan on Friday. More than 500 fled to Kyrgyzstan after violence erupted back home. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Burt Herman Associated Press
Uzbek refugees sleep in a refugee camp near the border with Uzbekistan on Friday. More than 500 fled to Kyrgyzstan after violence erupted back home. (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

ANDIJAN, Uzbekistan – Defying growing calls Friday for an international inquiry into the bloody suppression of anti-government riots, President Islam Karimov’s regime rounded up suspected participants in the unrest, which human rights activists say killed hundreds.

The United States, NATO and European Union on Friday joined U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in pressuring Uzbekistan to allow an independent investigation into the May 13 bloodshed. But Karimov continued to refuse, focusing instead on keeping order and rooting out those suspected of responsibility for the unrest.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said he was disappointed by Karimov’s rejection, saying: “I reiterate my call to the Uzbek authorities to accept this inquiry.”

The EU’s foreign ministers are expected to approve a resolution Monday calling for a probe and condemning Uzbek authorities for disproportionate use of force, said Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

How much weight such statements from the West might carry is in doubt. The Uzbek leader has resisted calls to end the crackdown and allow more democracy since taking the helm before the 1991 Soviet collapse.

Witnesses and rights activists have reported continuing arrests in Andijan, the eastern city at the center of the unrest.

An Uzbek official said Friday that police in the capital Tashkent had arrested several people on suspicion of involvement in the Andijan riots.

Karimov has blamed Islamic militants for the unrest that began May 13 in Andijan and denies his troops fired on unarmed civilians there. He dismisses claims of rights activists who put the death toll at over 700.

On Friday, a U.N. rights expert said he asked Uzbekistan to allow him to visit the country to assess the situation, but received no immediate reply.

Russia has signaled it does not intend to pressure Karimov. An International Committee for the Red Cross official, Reto Meister, urged Uzbek authorities to allow agency staff to visit those arrested and wounded in the unrest.