UN evacuates Uzbek refugees to London

Eleven Uzbek refugees who fled to Kyrgyzstan to escape bloodshed in the city of Andizhan in May were evacuated to London yesterday by the United Nations.

Accused of terrorism by the Uzbekistan government, the 11 are to start new lives in Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands.

"We will try to work at the best of our capacity in our new country to show that we are really true civilians and to release us from all the lies that were told by the Uzbek government," Tursunbai Nazazov, 47, said through an interpreter.

"We want to show that we are real true people, real human beings," he said as he arrived at London's Heathrow airport on his way to Helsinki.

Human rights bodies say at least 500 people, including many women and children, died in the eastern city of Andizhan when troops and security services shot into crowds of protesters. Uzbek officials say 187 were killed.

Tashkent also says many of the refugees are criminals who fought against government troops in the Andizhan riot on May 13.

Four Uzbeks who fled the violence are still being held in a detention centre in the southern Kyrgyz town of Osh, being denied refugee status by the migration authority, which suspects them of committing crimes during the Andizhan riot.

"We're relieved that after long negotiations 11 of the 15 who have been incarcerated in Osh have been released," Peter Kessler, spokesman for the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, told Reuters in London.

"We remain concerned about the other four. We are still working on getting them relieved from detention," he said. "We have received assurances from the Kyrgyz government that they will receive proper legal proceedings in Kyrgyzstan."

The Kyrgyz government has pledged not to hand the four back to Uzbekistan, which the United Nations says uses torture in jails.

Kyrgyzstan enraged its Central Asian neighbour Uzbekistan in July when it allowed the United Nations to evacuate 439 Uzbek refugees who fled to Kyrgyzstan, for temporary shelter in Romania.

Mr Nazazov said he was sad about having to leave Uzbekistan. "We wish to be able in the future to come back home but for now we see that it's not possible for us to return," he added.