Border calm as official visit to Andijan dismissed by diplomats

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)in Uzbekistan confirmed on Wednesday that it was conducting an assessment mission in the border region with Kyrgyzstan to investigate reports that groups of Uzbeks who had tried to escape the killing in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan by crossing into Kyrgyzstan, were stuck at the border. But a UNHCR programme officer in Kyrgyzstan, Almaz Burkutov, told IRIN from Kara-Suu on the border, that he had spoken to border officials late on Wednesday and that there were no reports of groups fleeing Andijan wanting to cross in order to seek asylum in Kyrgyzstan. "I travelled about 40 km along the border today. According to Kyrgyz and Uzbek border services, the situation on the Uzbek side of the border is calm. There are no large groups of people attempting to cross the border," Burkutov said. A human rights activist in Andijan told IRIN by telephone that he was concerned about the fate of hundreds of people who had fled the city, but had not presented themselves as refugees in Kyrgyzstan. "If 500 are dead and 600 or so have escaped across the border, that leaves at least 500 unaccounted for, the families are very worried." A Western diplomat, who wished to remain anonymous, told IRIN that a government-organised trip to Andijan - the scene of mass killings by Uzbek forces on Friday - had been "completely stage managed by Tashkent" in order to prevent foreigners and journalists from gaining information to support claims that more than 500 people were gunned down in and around the city's central square. "We were not allowed to talk to local people, see hospitals or morgues, or move freely around the city," the diplomat said. President Islam Karimov's government has only admitted that 169 people lost their lives in the city on Friday. According to the authorities, most of them were armed Islamic terrorists. Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said she was "deeply concerned" about the violence. "The [UN] High Commissioner urges the conduct of an independent investigation into the causes and circumstances of the incidents in eastern Uzbekistan," Arbour's office said in a statement. In southern Kyrgyzstan, UNHCR said doctors from Jalal-Abad provincial hospital were attending to Uzbek refugees housed in a temporary camp in Suzak district, close to the border. At least 560 refugees crossed the border at the weekend escaping the violence in Andijan, some were wounded, most were exhausted. The refugees said Uzbek authorities had opened fire on peaceful protesters and bystanders and that hundreds of innocent people had been shot dead. The refugees told IRIN they wanted to stay in Kyrgyzstan in order to escape persecution in Uzbekistan. "What we witnessed in Andijan was slaughter, a regime capable of that is capable of anything," said a woman who had left her two children behind in the city when she fled for her life early on Saturday morning. Jerzy Skuratowicz, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Kyrgyzstan, said the interim government had responded very well to the refugee crisis in the south. "Kyrgyzstan has ratified international conventions on refugees. I'd like to express my appreciation of Kyrgyz authorities in the practical application of these conventions - that's extremely important." He confirmed UN agencies in Kyrgyzstan were standing by to offer whatever help necessary to the refugees.