The people of Andijan have been living under curfew

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4557689.stm

A group of foreign diplomats is in the Uzbek town of Andijan to investigate last week’s bloody crackdown.

The Uzbek government said 169 people died after troops fired on protesters, who authorities say were organised by Islamic militants.

But witnesses say the actual death toll was much higher, with claims that several hundred people were killed.

The US has urged the Uzbek government to reform its political system in the wake of the incident.

The group of diplomats and journalists, who are on a government-organised visit, will be keen to see the scene of last week’s violence.

But a BBC correspondent in Tashkent, Natalia Antelava, says they are not particularly optimistic they will discover anything new.

The party’s itinerary is strictly defined, and its members will not be able to walk freely around the town or talk to local people without supervision.

The government says this is necessary for their security as, it says “there are many criminals at large”.

The visitors are also flying into the town, so they will not be able to see how difficult it is for ordinary citizens to get in and out of Andijan, our correspondent adds.

That the visit is happening at all is a sign of the intense international pressure Uzbek President Islam Karimov is under, in the wake of the killings.

The government felt they had to show at least something to the outside world, and they have chosen to allow this trip, our correspondent says.

The town authorities have been preparing for the diplomats’ visit, residents told the BBC.

A major cleanup is reportedly under way, streets are being washed and the government has started to repair some of the buildings damaged during the violence.

The Uzbek government insists Islamic militants intent on insurrection were behind much of Friday’s violence, which flared after protesters stormed the town’s prison and freed 23 businessmen accused of being Islamic extremists.

But witnesses say the soldiers fired at peaceful demonstrators, including women and children.

‘Needs openness’
Washington has been under pressure to take a tough line against the Uzbek regime, which is a key US ally in Central Asia.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she hoped the government “would be very, very open in understanding what has happened here.”

“The issue is that it is a society that needs openness, it needs reform.”

Neighbouring Kyrgyzstan has registered more than 500 refugees from Andijan. Some said troops shot at them as they tried to cross the border, and that some died.

Aid agencies report that a further 200 people may be stranded on the border between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.