Uzbek Refugees Leave for Romania

Photo by Aida Kasymalieva.

Some 440 Uzbek refugees have been flown to Romania from Kyrgyzstan where they fled following the Andijan massacre in May.

News reports said they were ultimately heading to Canada, Germany, Australia and Scandinavia, though the UN refugee agency UNHCR, which organised the evacuation with the help of the Kyrgyz government, refused to comment.

Some flashed peace signs on landing in Romania where they’ll stay at a reception centre run by the country’s national refugee office until details of their resettlement are finalised.

With them on the early morning flight were 14 people from an Osh detention centre whose release was secured after days of tense negotiations. A further 15 Uzbeks remain in a Kyrgyz jail, accused of various crimes by their government. Their future is up in the air, though UNHCR said they would not be extradited to Uzbekistan and that 11 had been granted refugee status.

“We will keep working with the government to release those in detention,” said Carlos Zaccagnini, the head of the UNHCR mission to Kyrgyzstan.

The fate of the jailed 29 almost derailed the July 29 evacuation as the 426 Uzbeks waiting at Manas airport refused to leave without their compatriots.

The Kyrgyz security council agreed at an urgent session on July 27 that 14 could leave but insisted that the remaining Uzbeks would only be released by a court as it was unclear whether they had committed serious crimes in Uzbekistan.

This sparked a July 28 protest with human rights activists demanding that Prosecutor-General Azimbek Beknazarov let the remaining refugees go - most of whom have been granted UN refugee status.

US ambassador Steven Young, Zaccagnini, the head of the UN childrens’ agency, UNICEF, Richard Young and Kyrgyz foreign minister Roza Otunbaeva all came to discuss the thorny issue with Beknazarov. When the officials emerged nearly two hours later, however, Young was pale, saying to journalists, “It is all on general prosecutor Beknazarov’s conscience.”

Tursunbek Akunov, chair of the Presidential Commission for Human Rights, said he also spoke with Beknazarov for 40 minutes, trying to convince him to let all of the jailed Uzbeks leave Kyrgyzstan.

“What Beknazarov is doing now is hard to understand,” he said.

“He ignores the opinion of international community. It is not clear what moves him. It turns out then that he supports the Karimov regime. I talked with him … but he explained that he will not release them because they are criminals and are waiting for court.”

Tolekan Ismailova, leader of human rights centre Citizens Against Corruption, believes Beknazarov is flouting international law.

“Under international conventions, the convention on torture and the convention on refugees, the 29 people charged with criminal acts should be held under the auspices of international organisations,” she said.

“The Kyrgyz government, together with UNHCR, should send them to a third country, where an independent court should decide whether these people are criminals or not. Under no circumstances, should they be returned to a country that practices torture.”

In the weeks following the massacre, Kyrgyzstan bowed to pressure from Uzbekistan and handed four refugees back to Tashkent.

Activist Aziza Abdrasulova pointed out that three years ago it was Beknazarov himself who needed the support of the international community and human rights groups after falling foul of the Kyrgyz authorities.

A popular parliamentary deputy, he was arrested and detained in January 2002 after calling for the impeachment of Askar Akaev, the former president, though he was subsequently released.

“I was … on hunger strike in support of Beknazarov. Now I have doubts if I was right protecting him,” said Abdrasulova. “I don’t know his motives, but in this situation, I think we should all be guided by a principle of humaneness to refugees. Beknazarov himself was considered a criminal recently. If the Uzbek authorities consider these 29 criminals, it does not mean they are criminals in reality.”

At the airport, journalists were kept away from the departing refugees by Kyrgyz officials keen to downplay their departure. One high-ranking official explained that the low-key exit was an attempt to cool Uzbekistan’s anger.

“Interstate relations are a fragile thing,” said the official who asked to remain anonymous.

“We already made our relations with Uzbekistan more complex by allowing the departure of 440 of their citizens. If global news agencies will show happy faces of leaving Uzbek refugees, this will infuriate the Uzbek authorities.”

Zaccagnini, however, was quite talkative, saying the group were happy to be leaving, “These are organised, disciplined people. They behaved with dignity straight from the onset of their hard journey from Uzbekistan. We can be proud of them. We hope they will be able to reunite with their families and return home some day.”

The arrival of the 14 from Osh, looking pale but cheerful, was greeted with particular joy by those gathered at the airport, said a UNHCR source.

“These people were extremely happy, they greeted each other as if they returned from the other world,” he said.

“They laughed and cried at the same time. They literally kissed hands of the UNHCR staff and thanked them all the time. Many UNHCR workers could not stand this and cried together with the refugees.”

Leila Saralaeva is an independent journalist in Bishkek