Central Asia: May 15, 2005

Archives

In the eastern Uzbek town of Andijan, police and troops continued to use violence to disperse crowds of demonstrators. Over 500 civilians have been killed, and several thousand wounded or injured in the violence and chaos. Several thousand civilians have fled to the nearby  Kyrgyzstan border.  Uzbek president Islam Karimov is a much tougher character than the recently deposed dictator in neighboring Kyrgyzstan. Karimov has a better organized police state, and troops who are willing to kill Uzbeks. The country has a population of about 25 million, with some of the densest concentrations in the east, around towns like  Andijan.  Karimov is blaming the unrest on Islamic radicals, but the resistance appears to be forming around tribal and clan groups that are unhappy with  Karimov's corrupt and inefficient rule. More troops and police are being sent to towns around Andijan, where civilians, some of them armed, have taken over government buildings, and run off police.  

While  Karimov  doesn't know how to manage the economy, he has, so far, been much better at dealing with police and security matters. However,  Karimov has lots of enemies in the country, and this could be the beginning of his overthrow, or a period of civil war, or at least civil disorder.  

 

Article Archive

Central Asia: Current 2012 2011 2010 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contribute. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   contribute   Close