| August 28-September 4, 1999 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Kyrgyz fear long conflict, await Russian arms
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|  yrgyzstan faced a drawn out campaign against guerrillas holding hostages in the country's
remote southern mountains, First Deputy Prime Minister Boris Silayev said on Thursday.
"We are preparing for (something) prolonged," he told a news briefing in the capital Bishkek, adding that military aid from Russia
including helicopters, transport planes and arms was expected in the next few days.
Around 750 gunmen hiding in the south released a policeman overnight, taking to eight the number of Kyrgyz captives freed, a
Defence Ministry official said.
In a separate development, the guerrillas, believed to be part of Uzbekistan's radical Moslem opposition, freed six Uzbek
climbers seized on the Abramov glacier when the infiltration first began on August 21.
The Kyrgyz had not been aware of the incident involving Uzbek mountaineers until they were freed, amid continuing confusion as
to how many hostages the rebels are holding.
What is known is that the remaining captives include four Japanese geologists and a senior Kyrgyz military official.
The gunmen crossed from their stronghold in northern Tajikistan, and the Kyrgyz government says they appear to be trying to
cross its territory to get to Uzbekistan where they plan a terror campaign.
Their leader is said to be Uzbek rebel Dzhuma Namangani, who fled his country in 1992 and who is accused by President Islam
Karimov of trying to assassinate him in a series of bomb blasts in the capital Tashkent in February.
In a transcript of an August 31 interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation by a man claiming to represent the Islamic
Movement of Uzbekistan, he said the group wanted to swap Japanese hostages for its members held in Uzbekistan.
"Our aim is to exchange them for several people who've been imprisoned and tortured by the Uzbek regime," the man, named as
Zubair Ibn Abdurakhim, said.
He added it was the fighters' "clear aim" to cross north into Uzbekistan, which he said would happen "with the help of Allah."
Silayev saw their demands as a positive sign.
"Earlier we heard they were completely refusing to talk," he said. "Today the situation has changed somewhat. I think that the
process has begun."
Kyrgyzstan's small and poorly-equipped army and police have failed to dislodge the fighters from their hideouts among peaks
exceeding 5,000 metres (16,000 feet) and deep ravines.
Kyrgyz veterans from the Soviet campaign in Afghanistan, climbers and hunters have enlisted to fight the intruders.
The impoverished state of five million, facing its worst security crisis since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, has
enlisted the help of Russia and neighbours Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
They are all wary of the threat of an extremist Islamic revival in the vast Central Asian region, bordering China to the east,
Afghanistan and Iran to the south and Russia to the north.
Uzbek air attacks, meant to flush out the fighters, were suspended over the weekend after they mistakenly bombed a Kyrgyz
village, killing four people and injuring 16.
Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev met Karimov in Tashkent on Wednesday to discuss ways of containing the crisis.
Kyrgyzstan says the army has the situation under control, and has blocked the fighters' routes deeper into its territory.
But a soldier was lightly injured when a Kyrgyz position in the village of Karamyk came under fire late on Wednesday, while
Interior Ministry troops were taking "operative measures" around the village of Kan, a Defence Ministry statement said.
Silayev also said more gunmen would cross into Kyrgyzstan if the Kyrgyz and Tajiks failed to act.
"If we do not take adequate measures and if Tajikistan also does not do everything to close the border, then there will be a lot
more of them," he said.
In addition to the security crisis, around 5,500 refugees have left their homes and are mostly gathered in the regional centre of
Batken.
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Russia, Central Asian countries to joint efforts against terrorism
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|  zbek President Islam Karimov said
Wednesday that Russia and the Central Asian countries will coordinate in
fighting against terrorism, according to the reports reaching here from Uzbek
capital of Tashkent.
Karimov made the remarks while meeting Russian Defense Minister Igor
Sergeyev who arrived in Tashkent Wednesday for talks on the current crisis in
southern Kyrgyzstan.
During the talks, Karimov also urged Russia to actively participate in settling the
crisis, saying the armed conflicts there are not merely terrorist activities but a
result of the long- term complicated situation in the central Asian region.
Sergeyev replied that Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikstan and
Russia must joint efforts in solving the problem and coordinate in fighting against
extremism and terrorism, according to the reports.
"There exists a mechanism among the Central Asian countries for mutual
assistance -- the collective security agreement of the Commonwealth of
Independent States," said Sergeyev, hinting that the crisis could be solved under
this agreement.
Sergeyev announced that Russia and the four Central Asian countries have
established an action group to plan on the anti- terrorist fight.
In the past month, a great number of armed terrorists infiltrated into southern
Kyrgyzstan from Tajikstan, and also attempted to further infiltrate into
Uzbekistan.
They have held one senior Kyrgyz military officer and four Japanese hostage.
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Russian Defence Minister leaves Tashkent for South Korea
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|  ussian Defence Minister Marshal
Igor Sergeyev ended his one-day working visit to Tashkent on Wednesday and
about 22:15 Moscow time flew to South Korea.
Earlier he, on the instructions from the Russian president, held talks with Uzbek
President Islam Karimov and Uzbek Defence Minister Khikmatulla Tursunov.
The sides discussed the problem of the settlement of the situation in the
south-west of Uzbekistan, in neighbouring Kirghizia and problems connected
with the stabilization of the situation in Central Asia and joint struggle against
terrorism.
As a result of these meetings, an official agreement was reached on setting up an
operative group comprising representatives of Kirghizia, Uzbekistan, Russia,
Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, which is charged to study the situation in Kirghizia
and propose options on the liquidation of band formations.
The sides came to the unanimous viewpoint on the need to render a military aid
to Kirghizia.
On Wednesday evening Igor Sergeyev reported to Russian President Boris
Yeltsin on the results of the talks.
During his visit to Seoul, which will begin on Thursday and will last till September
5, the Russian defence minister will discuss with the Korean side issues of the
development of military and technological cooperation.
The head of the Russian Defence Ministry is expected to be received by
President of South Korea Kim Dae Jun. He will also have talks with Korean
Defence Minister Cho Song-tae and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign
Trade Hong Sun-yong.
According to information made available to Itar-Tass from a source at the
Russian Defence Ministry, the upcoming visit of Igor Sergeyev to the Republic of
Korea will allow to raise military cooperation between the two countries to a
qualitatively new level.
Special attention at the oncoming talks will be devoted to security problems in
the Asian-Pacific region, in particular, to the maintenance of stability on the
Korean peninsula.
According to the Russian defence minister, Moscow expresses concern in
connection with the plans of the United States and Japan to deploy an
anti-missile defence system in this region.
These issues are expected to be discussed during Igor Sergeyev's visit to the
Republic of Korea.
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Uzbek leader, Russian Minister mull Kyrgyz crisis
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| zbekistan's President Islam Karimov met
Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev in the Uzbek capital Tashkent on
Wednesday, to discuss cooperation in ending a security crisis in neighbouring
Kyrgyzstan.
Uzbekistan and the rest of Central Asia have been unnerved by recent events in
southern Kyrgyzstan where armed intruders, believed to be radical Islamists,
have captured villages and hostages and exchanged fire with Kyrgyz armed
forces.
"I hope we can discuss the problem and find solutions to this complex situation,"
Russia's RIA news agency quoted Karimov as telling Sergeyev, who was due to
leave for South Korea later on Wednesday.
Karimov said at the meeting that the Kyrgyz crisis was "not simply terrorism but
the result of complicated processes which are taking place in Central Asia."
The guerrillas, who are holding 16 hostages including four Japanese geologists in
the Kyrgyz hills, are believed to be led by Uzbek rebel Dzhuma Namangani,
whom Karimov accuses of plotting to overthrow him and establish an Islamic
state in the poor desert nation.
Uzbekistan on Sunday dispatched warplanes to help Kyrgyz forces flush out the
guerrillas, but ended up bombing civilian targets in Kyrgyzstan, killing three
people.
Earlier last month, Uzbek jet fighters mistakenly bombed Tajikistan's northern
territory.
Kyrgyz officials said the guerrillas were on their way to Uzbekistan to stage
terrorist acts on Uzbek independence day which is being celebrated on
Wednesday.
Tiny Kyrgyzstan also appealed to Russia and other Central Asian states, fellow
members of post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States, to assist in
suppressing the insurgency. Russia has said it would be ready to help.
Karimov asked Sergeyev to convey thanks to Russian President Boris Yeltsin
for offering assistance in solving the problem.
"We need to work together to analyse the issue and get to the root of the
problem," he said.
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Uzbekistan celebrates Independence Day
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| zbekistan celebrates Independence
Day on Wednesday.
The nationwide holiday is celebrated in Uzbekistan for the eighth time. Gala
concerts and exhibitions have been arranged all over the country on the occasion
of the holiday.
On the eve of Independence Day a grandiose gala concert was held on
Independence square in Tashkent, in which over 5,000 performers, representing
all regions of Uzbekistan, took part.
Today, the square has turned into an exposition of magnificent minarets of
Bukhara and Samarkand and architectural monuments of Khiva, created by
medieval architects, whose exact replicas were displayed on the square.
Uzbek President Islam Karimov addressed the Uzbek people on the occasion
the nationwide holiday, saying that today's holiday is the holiday of all the people
of Uzbekistan who live on its generous and fertile lands.
The Uzbek president expressed confidence that the "Uzbekistan has great
future."
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Uzbek leader awards three boxers
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|  resident Islam Karimov on Tuesday signed a decree awarding three participants in the
10th boxing championship which occurred in Houston, Texas.
Utkirbek Khaidarov weighing 75 kilograms, gold-winning 63.5- kilogram Makhammatkodir Abdullayev, and silver-winning 57-
kilogram Tulkinbai Turgunov distinguished by the decree.
The Uzbekistan team came third in the championship, beaten only by the U.S. And Cuba.
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Kyrgyzstan says Uzbek planes bomb village, kill 3
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|  ighter jets from neighboring Uzbekistan were responsible for a raid on a Kyrgyz village
that killed three people and wounded 17 others, Kyrgyzstan confirmed Monday.
Bolot Dzhanuzakov, a security adviser to Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev, told a news conference a note of protest had been
sent to the Uzbek Foreign Ministry over the raid, which took place Sunday on a village in the south of Kyrgyzstan. The village is
in a region where guerrillas believed to be from Uzbekistan have been holding 16 hostages for more than a week.
Kyrgyz sources had earlier said the two planes might have been from Uzbekistan, which is also interested in seeing the fighters
flushed out. The Kyrgyz Defense Ministry had initially said only seven people had been wounded in the raid.
"Unfortunately someone made a mistake and the bombs fell not where the fighters were but on the outskirts of (the village of)
Kara-Teiit," Dzhanuzakov added.
He said the Uzbeks had responded to the note of protest by saying they were urgently investigating the accident and that air
raids over Kyrgyz territory had been stopped until its causes had been identified.
"According to our agreement (with Uzbekistan), the air force of Uzbekistan should bomb those places where there are fighters
but where there was no danger to local civilians," he added. In the confusion, Kyrgyz artillery near the village had opened fire on
the Uzbek jets, he said. Both planes got away safely.
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Airstrikes on guerrillas cause civilian victims report
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|  irstrikes were made on Monday on presumed camps of militants who had taken hostages in
Kyrgyzstan's Batkent district and caused civilan victims, the Japanese news agency Kyodo Tsushin reported from the Kyrgyz
capital Bishkek early in the day.
The agency said, citing an anonymous high official of Kyrgyzstan's Interior Ministry, that the airstrikes left five people dead and 15
injured.
The airstrikes are presumed to come from Uzbekistan's airpower. Losses of militants were not reported.
Uzbekistan's army units and special task police last week joined operations against militant groups invading neighbouring
Kyrgyzstan.
The militants a week ago took a number of hostages, including four Japanese geologists, in Kyrgyzstan.
The invading band is said to belong to a Movement of Islamic Renaissance of Uzbekistan.
The band is reportedly made up of Uzbeks, Tajiks, Afghanis and Arabs and guided by Uzbek Islamic radicals who seek to topple
the administration of Uzbek President Islam Karimov.
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Seven Kyrgyz injured in air raid
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| nidentified warplanes attacked a village in southern Kyrgyzstan and injured at least seven people
in the region where guerrillas have been holding hostages for more than a week, officials said on Monday.
"I can confirm that there was a bombing raid on the village of Kara-Teiit yesterday (Sunday) evening and that seven people were
injured," a Kyrgyz defence ministry spokesman told Reuters.
He said there was no information as to who the planes belonged to, although sources in Bishkek said they were almost certainly
from neighbouring Uzbekistan.
"They did not have any distinguishing signs, but I am sure they were Uzbek, as Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan do not have such
aircraft," one source said, asking not to be identified.
The source said that local people had reported there were deaths as a result of Sunday's bombings and that bombs also fell on the
neighbouring village of Karamyk. The defence ministry could not confirm either detail.
Kyrgyzstan officials met their counterparts from Central Asian neighbours Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan last week to
discuss how to cope with around 650 guerrillas hiding with hostages in the mountainous region.
Uzbek planes have made sorties over Kyrgyz territory already this month to help the small and poorly-equipped local army flush out
the gunmen.
Previous raids were made with Kyrgyzstan's agreement, although on one expedition bombs fell on Tajik territory, prompting an
angry response from Dushanbe.
Guerrillas began to cross north into Kyrgyzstan from Tajikistan over a week ago. They are believed to be loyal to the radical
Moslem Uzbek opposition and their aim appears to be to cross north to Uzbekistan to wage a terror campaign there.
Among the 16 hostages are four Japanese geologists and a senior Kyrgyz military official, all said to be alive and well. The gunmen
released four hostages from an original group of 20 over the weekend.
Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Muratbek Imanaliyev told an earlier news conference on Monday that he did not know whether the
Uzbeks were prepared to continue providing air support for operations in the south.
"You will have to ask the Uzbeks," he said.
Central Asia, a vast region the size of Continental Europe and grouping five former Soviet republics, is a potential hotbed of ethnic
tensions. The Kyrgyz crisis threatens to open old wounds between Tajiks, Uzbeks and Kyrgyz.
Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan fear that Uzbekistan, the most populous of the five states with 24 million and under the strong leadership
of President Islam Karimov, wants to become regional leader.
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Tajikistan denies housing Uzbek armed groups
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|  ajikistan says all Uzbek nationals who illegally stayed in Kyrgyzstan-bordering
Karateginskaya valley, including armed groups, have quit and the situation is fully controlled there.
Tajik Security Council Secretary Amirkul Azimov, reached by Itar-Tass by telephone, denied media reports about a possible
breakthrough of a large armed group from Tajikistan into Kyrgyzstan.
He said he returned from the Karateginsky region on Friday where he had been staying for five days together with influential field
commanders on orders of Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov.
"We have checked literally all residential areas and former locations of so called Uzbek refugees and have not found a single
armed man," Azimov said.
He said the Tajik leadership and the opposition share the opinion that all people who live in Tajikistan without registration should
be expelled.
He said he had no information as to where Uzbeks went, but knew that Tajik authorities bluntly refused their request to arrange
for them a corridor into Afghanistan.
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Kyrgyz neighbours vow to help fight gunmen
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| yrgyzstan's three Central Asian neighbours said on Saturday they were ready to join forces to
help it repel around 1,000 hardline Islamic guerrillas holed up with 18 hostages in its mountainous southern region.
Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan said they would use all means necessary to assist Kyrgyzstan, whose small and
poorly-equipped army is struggling to cope with the growing crisis.
"The republics of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan strongly support the attempts by Kyrgyzstan to liquidate the terrorist
groups and are ready to offer all assistance, including military, to the government of Kyrgyzstan," a joint statement read.
The statement was released by the official Kabar news agency in the capital Bishkek after senior security officials from the four
countries met in the southern regional centre of Osh.
They gathered to discuss joint action to free the captives, including four Japanese geologists and a senior Kyrgyz military official,
and to wipe out the gunmen.
"The sides call on their communities to jointly and decisively rebuff the audacious raids by the bandits and state that terrorist acts,
accompanied by the illegal crossing of borders...will be stopped using the most severe and decisive means."
There were no details on what form any joint action would take at this stage, government officials said.
A Kyrgyz official said the guerrillas, believed to be members of Uzbekistan's Moslem opposition, were continuing to spread out
across towering mountain ranges and deep valleys in the Batken region.
"It is very difficult to fight face-to-face with the rebels," the official, who asked not to be named, said. "They have experience of
fighting in the mountains, so it is hard to chase them down."
The gunmen crossed from Tajikistan north into Kyrgyzstan and were heading for the densely-populated Fergana Valley region
of Uzbekistan, Central Asia's most populous state, to launch a terror campaign, according to the Kyrgyz Defence Ministry.
They have yet to make contact with Kyrgyz forces guarding the valleys and canyons, and the fate of the captives is not yet
known.
The infiltrators are thought to be loyal to Uzbek opposition warlord Dzhuma Namangani, a prime suspect in February's bomb
blasts in Uzbekistan's capital Tashkent in which 16 people died.
President Islam Karimov said the bombs were an attempt to assassinate him and has blamed Namangani and others of trying to
overthrow his government and create an Islamic state.
Namangani fled Uzbekistan in 1992 and some of his supporters escaped into Tajikistan after the explosions.
The situation was stable overnight on Friday, the official said.
"Nothing of note happened during the night," he said. "The positions on both sides remain the same as before."
Kyrgyzstan has issued a decree calling up volunteers and veterans of the Soviet campaign in Afghanistan to help protect key
installations in the region where the gunmen are hiding.
The first busload of former Afghan troops, chosen for their experience of fighting in treacherous mountain terrain, had already left
for the town of Batken, Kabar said in a statement.
The Batken governor said more than 4,000 refugees fleeing the guerrillas had so far descended on his town.
Uzbekistan, which is strengthening its border with Kyrgyzstan in readiness for attacks, has already sent SU-24 jet fighters on
two bombing sorties over suspected enemy positions on the remote Abramov glacier.
Russia has been asked to send technical support to help the Kyrgyz troops counter night operations by the guerrillas.
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The Uzbek: a successful ethnic group
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|  n recent years, villagers in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have made a
good living by cultivating cashmere sheep to produce the comfortable and valuable clothing material.
When talking about their fortune, the villagers cannot help mentioning the name of Yershati Malik, director of a goat research
institution in Urumqi, the regional capital, who has fostered a new species with a higher yield of quality cashmere.
Yershati Malik, now 54, comes from a family of ethnic Uzbek people who are known for their intelligence. Malik's wife and
eight of his nine brothers and sisters have university degrees, and all three of his daughters are now at universities.
There are nearly 20,000 Uzbeks living in Xinjiang, mostly in the cities. According to historical records, they are the descendants
of the Uzbek Khan State which was under Mongolian rule in the 14th century, and their ancestors moved from Central Asia to
Xinjiang in pursuit of trade.
Uzbeks, whether in the countryside or the cities, have always attached great importance to education and are keen on having
their children receive the best education they can. The percentage of well-educated Uzbek people is officially said to be much
higher than that of most of the 54 ethnic groups in China.
Nowadays, many Uzbek intellectuals, including teachers, scientists, and doctors, are making notable progress in their fields.
Mulati Hoga, a 61-year old surgeon with the Regional People's Hospital, is a good example. During his 43-year career, Hoga
has treated hundreds of thousands of patients.
Without the support of the government, he could not have become a skillful surgeon, Hoga said.
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