Sweden reconsiders Uzbekistan base

[struggle4progress]

Sweden is searching for an alternative to stationing soldiers in Uzbekistan, a country charged with violating its citizens' rights, following scathing criticism from Amnesty International, media reported on Monday.

The human rights watchdog bashed Sweden over the weekend for its plans to station a 30-soldier air transport team in Termez to support troops in neighbouring Afghanistan starting in August.

"Sweden should look into the possibility of finding another (military) base in another country," Amnesty Sweden's secretary general Carl Soderbergh told newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

Reacting to the criticism on Monday, Swedish Defence Minister Leni Björklund wrote in an email to the paper that "the military will be charged with finding alternative solutions to the activities in Termez". <snip>

http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=1595&date=20050613

[cire4]

1. Well, it looks like Sweden is on higher moral ground than the US

...as if thats hard to do. I don't see * in any rush to move the Uzbekistan base, or even condemn the slaughter that took place there last month.

[struggle4progress]

2. (Corr) Amnesty critical of Swedish military base in Uzbekistan

Media Monitor
Jun 13, 2005, 23:21 GMT

Text of report by Swedish radio Ekot web site on 12 June; subheadings as published:

Amnesty International in Sweden has criticized the fact that Swedish military personnel are stationed at a base in Uzbekistan, where the regime recently carried out a massacre.

The military has an air-force unit at the German base at Termez, close to the Afghan border, in order to assist the UN-supported ISAF security force.

However, the secretary-general of Amnesty International in Sweden, Carl Soederbergh, feels the Swedish presence is inappropriate.

"The presence, the fact that many countries are using Uzbekistan as a base for their activities in Afghanistan, is a source of prestige for the regime in the country. I think it is deplorable that Sweden is contributing to this," Carl Soederbergh says. <snip>

http://news.monstersandcritics.com/mediamonitor/article_1012215.php/_Corr__Amnesty_critical_of_Swedish_military_base_in_Uzbekistan