Uzbek government dismisses call for international probe

ANDIJAN, Uzbekistan -- Defying growing calls Friday for an international inquiry into the bloody suppression of anti-government riots, President Islam Karimov's regime rounded up suspected participants in the unrest, which human rights activists say killed hundreds.

NATO and the European Union on Friday joined U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in pressuring Uzbekistan to allow an independent investigation into the May 13 bloodshed. But Karimov continued to refuse, focusing instead on keeping order and rooting out those suspected of responsibility for the unrest.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said he was disappointed by Karimov's rejection, saying: "I reiterate my call to the Uzbek authorities to accept this inquiry."

The EU's foreign ministers are expected to approve a resolution Monday calling for a probe and condemning Uzbek authorities for disproportionate use of force, said Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

How much weight such statements from the West might carry is in doubt: The Uzbek leader has staunchly resisted calls to end the crackdown on the opposition and allow more democracy since taking the helm before the 1991 Soviet collapse.

Witnesses and rights activists have reported continuing arrests in Andijan, the eastern city at the center of the unrest.

A senior Uzbek police official said Friday that police in the capital Tashkent had arrested several people on suspicion of involvement in the Andijan riots.

Karimov has blamed Islamic militants for the unrest that began May 13 in Andijan and denies his troops fired on unarmed civilians there. He dismisses claims of rights activists who put the death toll at over 700.

On Friday, a U.N. human rights expert said he asked Uzbekistan to allow him to visit the country to assess the situation, but received no immediate reply.

Philip Alston, U.N. special investigator on illegal and arbitrary executions, said in a statement he was "gravely concerned about reports that hundreds of people, including women and children, were killed on May 13 when government troops fired indiscriminately to disperse a demonstration in Andijan."

Russia has signaled it does not intend to pressure Karimov. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has described the events as an "internal matter." And Nikolai Patrushev, head of the KGB's main successor, said Friday that Russia believes terrorists from Afghanistan were involved in the uprising, the Interfax news agency reported.

On Thursday, Annan said Karimov rejected his call for an international investigation into the worst bloodshed since the country's independence.

"He said he had the situation under control and was taking every measure to bring those responsible to account, and didn't need an international team to establish the facts," the U.N. chief said in New York.

However, Karimov's office disputed that Annan had pressed for a probe, claiming Friday that "no proposals about an independent investigation into the recent events in Andijan were discussed during the conversation."

An International Committee for the Red Cross official, Reto Meister, urged Uzbek authorities to allow agency staff to visit those arrested and wounded in the unrest.

An Uzbek government official, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job, said the government was likely to agree to that, noting the Red Cross and the government have a cooperation agreement.

Meister, speaking in Geneva, said Red Cross delegates have been allowed to travel to the region to assess humanitarian needs.

The head of U.S. Central Command, Gen. John Abizaid, said this week that the U.S. military has scaled back its operations in Uzbekistan, a key ally in the U.S. war on terror. Karshi-Khanabad air base, about 90 miles from the Afghan border and several hundred miles from the Fergana Valley where the unrest broke out, serves as a hub for U.S. special operations in Afghanistan. U.S. military officials would only describe the current American presence as a small contingent.

On May 13, protesters stormed a prison in Andijan, freed inmates and then seized local government offices, taking officials hostage. Among the freed inmates were 23 businessmen on trial for alleged Islamic extremism. Hours later, during a rally in the central square in Andijan, witnesses said troops shot indiscriminately into a crowd of protesters.

The government says 169 people died in Andijan, but opposition activists say more than 700 were killed -- over 500 in Andijan and about 200 in nearby Pakhtabad -- most of them civilians.