Report published June 21, 2010 in La Presse and La Croix.
Osh, Kyrgyzstan - The barricades are lifted. In the second city of Kyrgyzstan, the epicenter of ethnic violence in recent weeks the army has restored this weekend traffic between neighborhoods Kyrgyz, Uzbek and mixed unopposed. Refugees timidly begin to return, but mistrust and rumors ew clashes remain.
Begaïm Nouralieva returns to his home for the first time in more than a week. With a dozen other neighborhood residents Kyrgyz Shahid Tepa, predominantly Uzbek, she was escorted to his home by armed soldiers. "We are not afraid of our neighbors, but the Uzbeks who come from elsewhere," said the frail 47 year old nurse, visibly frightened.
Uzbek neighbors welcomed him warmly. Seeing her house ransacked and looted, Begaïm collapses in tears. But she refuses to acknowledge the residents and advance to the identity thieves. According Begaïm, "time will tell" if it is possible for 30 families Kyrgyz Shahid Tepa continue to live there. For now, however, it is better not to take risks. After a few bags full of clothes, plastic, Kirghiz leave in armored vehicle.
few minutes earlier, armor still undone makeshift barricades in the neighborhood, drawn up by the Uzbek minority to protect itself from new attacks. In less than an hour, they move trucks and concrete cylinders placed across the road, even getting the backing of the Uzbeks, although opposed to the operation.
In Osh, if trust between Kyrgyz and Uzbek minority majority is far from being returned, tensions subside. Some thousands of Uzbeks, the main victims of violence, have even gone back home during the weekend. The UN says the conflict has displaced and 400,000 refugees. At the border post
improvised VLKSM opened in an emergency the first day of hostilities, hundreds of refugees returning to Kyrgyzstan, straddling the barbed wire covered with a flowered rug. Rumours and tension
But everyone is on guard. In Osh, rumors fuse, leaving some doubt about the events. Even today, it remains unclear what started the fighting on the night of June 10 to 11
Before the blaze, ethnic tensions were real either. But the motives and identity of the instigators of violence in the country's second city, which later spread to other locations in southern Kyrgyzstan, remain unclear.
there was rape of student Kyrgyz by a gang of young Uzbeks in a dorm downtown? Rumor Kyrgyz assured, but no direct witness. For the Uzbek minority, the first episode of the conflict, the attack on their headquarters by hordes of masked arsonists, presumably Kyrgyz, with the help of armored vehicles and soldiers.
The extent of damage and casualties, which are counted in hundreds or thousands, suggest that the violence was organized. Many citizens and officials suspect the former mayor of Osh Melisbek Myrzakmatov, of having ordered the killings. The main person denies and accuses Islamists unlikely groups linked to international terrorism.
Some say the mayor wanted to help the deposed president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, ousted in April, to regain control of southern Iraq. By derailing the constitutional referendum next Sunday, at the same time it would undermine the authority of the fragile interim government.
According to others, the mayor or mafia groups wanted to rid the city of Uzbek traders successful.
What is certain today is qu'Och, Jalal-Abad and other towns and villages in southern Kyrgyzstan are defaced, torn and divided. Several
Kyrgyz do not hide their nationalistic sentiments and believe that the Uzbeks, who form 15% of the population, should leave "their" country. Even if they have lived for centuries.
Uzbeks, they do not trust the authorities and security forces, controlled almost without exception by the Kyrgyz majority. Not surprising for them that the only people arrested in connection with the disturbances are an ethnic Uzbek or "foreign mercenaries".
In the coming weeks if the calm sets in, thousands of Uzbeks, internally displaced or refugees, will find their homes looted or burned. Kirghiz also lost their homes, and hundreds will have to decide if they return to their neighborhood predominantly Uzbek.
reconciliation committees were created, but for now, Uzbeks and Kirghiz disagree on one point: it only takes a spark to deliver fuel to the fire.
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