ANDIJAN, Uzbekistan, 21 May 2005 — Uzbek authorities shrugged off the UN chief’s call for an international probe into a government crackdown on protesters that witnesses say killed hundreds, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said.
President Islam Karimov has blamed Islamic militants for the unrest and denies that his troops fired on unarmed civilians, dismissing claims of rights activists who put the death toll at over 700. Annan said Karimov opposed an international investigation into the worst bloodshed since the country’s independence in 1991.
“He said he had the situation under control and was taking every measure to bring those responsible to account, and didn’t need an international team to establish the facts,” the UN chief said in New York on Thursday night.
Karimov’s office, however, denied that a proposal for an independent investigation was raised in talks with Annan, the Uzbek presidential press service said in a statement.
European Union foreign ministers will call on Monday for an urgent international inquiry into the killings. The EU is also expected to condemn “excessive use of force” in the country, Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, said.
“The council (of ministers) urgently calls on the Uzbek authorities to allow immediately for an independent, international inquiry into these events to take place,” Gallach said, quoting a statement proposed for the ministers’ approval. “The council strongly condemns the reported excessive and disproportionate use of force by the Uzbek security forces.”
She said the ministers might change the wording.
The United States has cut back operations from its air base in Tajikistan since the unrest began. “We have decided to make sure that we’re cautious about how we’re operating,” said the head of US Central Command, Gen. John Abizaid, in remarks posted on his official website www.centcom.mil
He was responding to a question about whether the scaling down of the operation came because of the attacks.
Washington, which sees Karimov as an ally in its war against terror, has urged Uzbek authorities to be open about events in Andijan.
