Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-07-07-Speech-3-469"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20100707.31.3-469"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spoken text |
"Madam President, two weeks ago, I was in Uzbekistan. I had meetings with senior ministers in Tashkent who briefed me extensively on the refugee crisis arising from the recent violence in southern Kyrgyzstan. I have written to the High Representative in detail on this issue.
The Uzbek Government has little hesitation in blaming former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev for playing a pivotal role in this uprising in the cities of Osh and Jalalabad in southern Kyrgyzstan. They point out that the Kyrgyz and Uzbek population in these cities have lived together in harmony for millennia. The ministers I met are convinced that the level of violence and brutality perpetrated against innocent civilians was horrific and could only have been carried out by experienced mercenary killers – perhaps veterans of Afghanistan or Chechnya – and they reckon that about 2 000 people were killed. Apparently, many of the victims were shot by trained marksmen, pregnant women were disembowelled, young girls were brutally raped and murdered, and babies were decapitated and their bodies hurled into the river.
This level of violence would be bizarre and unlikely in an uprising involving local Kyrgyz youths alone, although teenagers and young men from both the Kyrgyz and Uzbek populations did get involved when they witnessed the extent of the violence that was taking place. The general view in Tashkent is that this uprising was planned well in advance and financed by Bakiyev with the orders on the ground in southern Kyrgyzstan being relayed by his family and loyal supporters.
The resulting exodus of refugees across the border into Uzbekistan numbered in excess of 100 000. These refugees were accommodated in 15 camps set up near the border. The Uzbek Government provided a good level of tented accommodation, sanitary facilities, food and medical aid for this vast influx of people, but the numbers far exceeded anything they could ever have predicted and they are having difficulty sustaining the cost of the operation. They are particularly desperate to receive financial aid to purchase foodstuffs. They fear that the refugee problem may be long term, as many of the displaced Uzbeks are afraid to return to their homes in Kyrgyzstan because of the massive violence they witnessed.
The 15 refugee camps in Uzbekistan are now crammed full with elderly people, women, children and many wounded, all of whom are receiving proper medical attention from the Uzbek authorities. Some of these refugees have now returned to Kyrgyzstan, but many have taken their tents with them and set up camps just across the border, ready to flee back to Uzbekistan again at the first sign of trouble. They are terrified to return to Osh or Jalalabad, where more than 75% of Uzbek homes and most Uzbek businesses have been destroyed.
The Uzbek Government is, of course, grateful for the EUR 5 million offered in aid to the Kyrgyz and Uzbek governments by the EU. They urge the UN to provide personnel to oversee the distribution of all aid on the ground, but they reaffirm that they require around EUR 5 million a day in Uzbekistan alone to deal adequately with the refugee crisis. They have all the supplies of grain and the other essential foodstuffs and medicines in Uzbekistan, but they cannot sustain the distribution of these commodities without financial support. The Uzbek Government stresses the need for an international inquiry into the circumstances surrounding this uprising, and I am delighted that we will support this in this resolution."@en1
|
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:unclassifiedMetadata | |
| lpv:videoURI |
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples