UN refugee agency reports harrowing accounts from Uzbeks who fled violence

[struggle4progress]

15 August 2005 – The United Nations refugee agency today reported harrowing tales of violence during disturbances in Uzbekistan earlier this year based on accounts from Uzbeks who fled to neighbouring Kyrgyzstan and are now in Romania awaiting resettlement.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) quoted one 46-year-old woman describing how she had gone to Babur Square in the eastern Uzbek town of in Andijan on 13 May to express her grievances to the President about various detained people as well as the difficulties of daily life in the country.

“My young son was killed in Babur Square,” said Fatima (not her real name). “The bullet went through his ear, they said. I did not see it happen. I was also on the square with my other son and saw a young boy being shot in front of me. Now when I think about my dead son, I think about the young one I saw.”

Shooting suddenly started from nowhere. Before she knew it, Fatima and her son were running like crazy to the only street that was not blocked by buses and personnel carriers. They did not stop until they arrived at the Kyrgyz border around dawn the following morning. They managed to cross into Kyrgyzstan, unlike others who were reportedly shot by Uzbek security officials, UNHCR said. <snip>

http://www.noticias.info/asp/aspComunicados.asp?nid=91225&src=0