U.S. Representatives urge reforms in Uzbekistan
The Associated Press
April 5A U.S. Congressional delegation said Monday that it had urged the Uzbek regime to push forward with democratic reforms after a week of violence in this Central Asian nation that killed at least 47 people.
Meanwhile, the prosecutor-general's office said operations continued to hunt an unknown number of suspects as security remained tighter than normal in the capital.
"They still haven't arrested all of them," said Prosecutor-General spokeswoman Svetlana Artikova. "How many? If we knew that, then we'd be the happiest people in the world."
The United States and Uzbekistan have been close allies since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Uzbekistan offered the United States the use of an air base near the Afghan border, a key asset in the ouster of the Taliban militia from power in Afghanistan in late 2001.
"I happen to believe that from this tragedy, moving towards the goal of bringing about greater political freedoms and economic freedoms is the natural and correct step," Rep. David Dreier, R-Calif., told reporters after meeting with Uzbek Foreign Minister Sadyk Safayev.
Dreier said the delegation was "very encouraged from the reports that we have been seeing in the area of human rights," but didn't provide any examples.
The two countries signed a strategic partnership agreement in 2002. For the Uzbek government to continue receiving direct U.S. aid, the Secretary of State must certify the country is making progress on human rights and other civil liberties.
A State Department report on human rights in Uzbekistan released in February said the government was committing "numerous serious abuses." At least four people died in custody last year because of mistreatment by authorities, the report said, and between 5,300 and 5,800 people were in prisons for political or religious reasons.
On Sunday, Safayev told foreign journalists that cutting off aid to the country would be a mistake and insisted progress was being made on human rights and economic reforms.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is also to decide this week whether to keep working with Uzbekistan if it has met a range of benchmarks on reforms, set after the bank held its annual meeting in Tashkent last year under heavy criticism from human rights groups.
Dreier led a delegation that included Rep. Karen McCarthy, D-Mo., and Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Calif., who arrived in Uzbekistan to "conduct oversight on the U.S. regional security presence, including the ongoing operations in Afghanistan," the U.S. Embassy in the capital Tashkent said in a statement.
Dreier said the United States has offered its assistance in determining who was behind last week's attacks.
"The fact that we have seen the soft targets hit here does leave me to conclude there are attempts to destabilize the government of Uzbekistan, and that's why standing up and bringing about the resolution to this is extremely important," Dreier said.
Uzbek authorities have claimed unspecified international terror groups were responsible for the attacks, which mainly targeted police, killing 10 officers and four civilians. Thirty-three alleged terrorists were killed in four days of explosions, suicide attacks and assaults on police that began March 28.