Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov turned down the appeal of UN to allow an independent international inquiry into the violent suppression of riots in the town of Andizhan last week. Photo by www.chinadaily.com.cn
Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov turned down the appeal of UN to allow an independent international inquiry into the violent suppression of riots in the town of Andizhan last week. Karimov told U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that he "did not favor an international inquiry at this time." The president said on Tuesday that 32 soldiers and 137 other people had died in the violence outbreak, putting the blame on Muslim rebel protesters. Uzbek security forces may have killed as many as 1,000 unarmed civilians last week in Andijan and Pakhtabad, according to a joint statement posted on the Internet by two human rights groups.