GETTING THE PEOPLE BACK

Seventy or so representatives of general public including aksakals (elders) and deputies of the Suzak local Kenesh (council) visited the camp of Uzbek refugees on May 14. The Suzak district is located on the territory of the Dzhalalabad region of Kyrgyzstan, the camp in the Sho-Bulak area (Bazakorgon district of the same region).

The enraged aksakals told refugee leaders to vacate the camp and leave Kyrgyzstan altogether in three days, threatening to bring thousands with them and oust refugees by sheer strength of numbers otherwise. Blows were exchanged. Executive of the international organization who tried to stop the locals and asked them to leave was assaulted and beaten.

A source in the Dzhalalabad regional administration reports that leaflets appeared in the Suzak district this last week. Supposedly distributed by Hizb-ut-Takhrir activists, they encourage the locals to help Uzbek refugees and give them shelter in Kyrgyzstan. The leaflets also urge the population not to elect "infidels" for president.

Discontent of the locals who suspect that the refugees belong to radical schools of Islam only grew when the government of Kyrgyzstan announced that it was considering refugees' applications for the official status. Aksakals and deputies of the local Kenesh claim to have visited the camp to express "the people's vexation." They say it worries them that with applications submitted, the refugees may leave the territory of the camp, move about the country freely, and perhaps join radical religious groups in Kyrgyzstan.

All aksakals came from different villages of the Suzak district. According to the same source, some aksakals met with their Uzbek counterparts and were asked to help with the return of refugees back to Uzbekistan. Uzbek elders claim that several informal leaders among the refugees literally force them to remain in Kyrgyzstan.

No information is available at this point on the reaction of the Dzhalalabad regional authorities to the incident. Whatever information is available was provided by the source in the regional administration and officials of the district authorities directly involved in what happened.

Ferghana.Ru correspondent in Bishkek Sultan Kanazarov reports that four envoys of the UN Commissar for Human Rights are expected in Kyrgyzstan today. They intend to arrange interviews with the refugees to find out what really happened in Andizhan. UN emissaries are doing it because the Uzbek authorities deny the international community a chance to run an official investigation of the May 13 events in Andizhan.