War in Central Asia.........

As someone who blogs almost every week on a variety of topics, the common denominator of my posts are that they are driven by the news stories of the day and that they reflect my own particular view of those events. Sometimes, however, it is just better to share the information and allow the reader to come to a conclusion all by themselves. This week’s blog is about a series of events taking place in Central Asia that are so horrific and tragic that even I am at a loss for an opinion except to ask myself, “How low can the species sink?”

We have all read about the recent ethnic clashes that have erupted in southern Kyrgyzstan these past two weeks and how they have now, finally managed to spiral almost completely out of control. News agencies report that approximately 118 people have been confirmed killed with an additional 1,500 wounded by the conflict while thousands of ethnic Uzbeks make their escape to neighboring Uzbekistan every day. One only has to look at the photos and video footage coming out of Eastern Europe every day to know that the number of people killed over the past four days far exceeds what these estimates suggest. Many of the victims are Muslim and in compliance with Muslim custom, people are burying their family members within 24 hours without bothering to report their deaths to the authorities.

Although Uzbeks make up only 15% of Kyrgyzstan’s population of a little over five million, most of them live in the southern part of the county, where most likely by design, they happen to be in the majority. The Fergana Valley, where most of the killing has taken place thus far, was sliced up arbitrarily by Josef Stalin in the 1920s among the peoples of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan respectively. While the Soviet Union existed, the iron heel of the Red Army kept ethnic tensions below the simmering point but with the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union, the artificial borders created by Stalin disintegrated and ethnic tension quickly boiled into ethnic hate.

The cause of all this latest round of killing and violence involving the Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks began in Osh, Kyrgyzstan’s second largest city and remains unclear. Some believe that the events in Osh were provoked and to some extent orchestrated by individuals who wanted to take advantage of the long-standing tensions between these two ethnic groups. The interim government has put the blame squarely on the country’s ex-president Kurmanbek Bakiyev and his supporters. They are being blamed for lighting the match that exploded into this newly ignited of unrest because they wished to prevent a national referendum on a new constitution which was scheduled to take place on June 27th. Mr. Bakiyev who was thrown out of the country by a popular uprising and then forced into exile has of course denied culpability.

Like most violence on this scale, it is shaped by politics. Mr. Bakiyev is a native of the southern part of the country and his political center is in Jalal-Abad, where he still has many loyal supporters. Ethnic Uzbeks, who are not part of the political landscape or any aspect of public life for that matter, have tended to prefer the interim government, which has as a goal, a more parliamentary form of government and less of an authoritarian style of presidential rule.

The fighting, like most ethnic violence has been murderous. A recent report out of the region claim that the army, which consists mainly of ethnic Kyrgyz, has joined forces with its civilian relatives and that has led to violence spreading to the town of Jalal-Abad over this past weekend. War crimes with their accompanying atrocities appear to have been committed by both sides, but the Kyrgyz, strengthened by its control of the military have quickly gained a position of dominance. Uzbek homes have been robbed and then burned to the ground and most hideously of all, women have been reportedly raped and then murdered, reminiscent of the horrors of Serbia—just a few years ago. Utilities all over Osh have been cut off and then destroyed while the scarcity of food increases daily.

In an attempt to find a safe haven, many ethnic Uzbeks, mostly women, children and the aged, have fled Osh to the nearby border with Uzbekistan and according to Uzbek government data, more than 30,000 people have crossed the border to end up in large tent cities. Unofficially, estimates go as high as 75,000 exiles crossing the border into Uzbekistan. One Non-Government Official (NGO) based in Uzbekistan, interviewed on CNN, said that there are now more than 200,000 Uzbek refugees in Uzbekistan.

Tragically, Uzbek women and children forced to leave behind their husbands, fathers and brothers have no idea what has happened to them. These clashes are viewed by relief agencies as the worst ethnic violence in Central Asia in 20 years. Back then clashes between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in this same region of Osh left several hundred people dead but that clash was resolved by the rapid deployment of Soviet troops. Today, there is the blessing and the curse of no Soviet Army to intervene.