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Massacre tears apart U.S.-Uzbek alliance
by George Gedda

The Associated Press Translate This Article
15 May 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) - It was perhaps the single worst atrocity committed by a government against demonstrators since China's Tiananmen Square in 1989. And amid the carnage from that violent day in Uzbekistan lay the remains of what had been a promising U.S. strategic partnership with that country.

Seldom has a country fallen faster from Washington's grace than Uzbekistan, the result largely of the attacks by heavily armed government forces against peaceful demonstrators in the eastern city of Andijan a year ago this weekend.

Hundreds are believed to have died. Since then, ``Internal repression has gotten even worse with arrests, intimidation and violence against political opponents,'' according to Mark Schneider of the International Crisis Group, which monitors global hotspots.

It is time for sanctions against the regime, say leading Republican members of Congress. The European Union took that step last fall, but the Bush administration has yet to deal with the issue.

Bills introduced in the past week by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., both active on human rights, would ban U.S. travel by Uzbek leaders, freeze any U.S.-based assets they hold and bar munitions exports to the country.

``History will remember the Andijan massacre of May 2005, and history will remember Uzbekistan's human rights abuses. It must also recall that America stands firmly and actively against them,'' McCain told a gathering of rights and public policy groups Tuesday.

Smith said torture in Uzbekistan is ``pervasive,'' adding that President Islam Karimov allows no opposition. He argued that Karimov's policies make recruiting easier for pro-al-Qaida groups such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

In a first anniversary report on Andijan, Amnesty International said scores of people suspected of involvement in the Andijan protests have been sentenced as terrorists to long prison terms in secret or closed trials.

``They must not be forgotten. Immunity must not prevail. The siege on truth must be lifted,'' it said.

In a similar vein, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Uzbekistan ``still owes the victims and survivors a full accounting of what took place.''

``Numerous eyewitness reports of security forces shooting and killing several hundred men, women and children have not been adequately addressed,'' he said.

After al-Qaida's Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, Uzbekistan seemed a perfect partner for an administration intent on picking up allies for struggle against Islamic extremism. The two countries saw eye to eye on terrorism, both having been victims of attacks.

Geographically, no country was better positioned than Uzbekistan to serve as a staging area for U.S. military operations against al-Qaida and Taliban forces in Afghanistan. It was right next door. A grateful Pentagon used the Karshi-Khanabad air base in Uzbekistan from the earliest days of the war in Afghanistan in 2001.

The Uzbeks had a poor human rights record before 9/11 but indicated an interest in pursuing democratic reform. The relationship with the United States was cemented with a visit by Karimov to the White House in March 2002. The two countries signed five cooperation agreements codifying the nations' new strategic relationship. In one document, the United States asked Uzbekistan to ``intensify the democratic transformation of its society.''

Karimov said during his Washington visit that the United States ``may remain in Uzbekistan as long as they think it is necessary; in other words, as long as it takes to finish disrupting the terrorist network.''

In time, he began to have second thoughts about his new ally. He saw a hidden U.S. hand behind democratic revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine, both former Soviet republics like Uzbekistan.

His anxiety was heightened in March 2005 when a demonstration led to the ouster of President Askar Akayev in neighboring Kyrgyzstan. Again, he felt Washington was the instigator.

The tragedy at Andijan occurred just two months later when Karimov's opponents tried to free inmates at an Andijan prison by hijacking a truck and ramming the facility at high speed. Karimov decided to meet force with force. Andijan quickly became a symbol of brutal excess.

The United States and its major allies demanded an international investigation, but Karimov showed no interest. In July, he set an end-of-year deadline for the United States to leave the Karshi-Khanabad base. Since then, the U.S. military has been using a base at Manas, Kyrgyzstan, as an alternative.

With the collapse of the U.S.-Uzbek partnership, Karimov has been shoring up his relations with Russia.

Says Schneider of the International Crisis Group: ``Uzbekistan is more closely linked than ever to Russia and is reaching out the China, with its links to the West either frozen, in disarray or ended.''

Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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