“Bullets Were Falling Like Rain” The Andijan Massacre, May 13, 2005

This month (13 May 2010), marked five years since Uzbek security troops killed hundreds of anti-government protesters in the city of Andijan. People were protesting against harsh socio-economic environment and repressive politics in the region. The government decided to take strong measures at the very early stage of the protests. That day in 2005 has come to be known as the “Andijan Massacre.”

On that day, government troops shot and killed civilian protesters on the orders of President Islam Karimov. According to the official data, the death toll was 187. However, witnesses and experts say much more people, including women and children, were killed there and the estimated number ranges from several hundreds to nearly 1,000.

From the very beginning Uzbekistan authorities made it clear that it is their internal issue and the coverage of the massacre in Western and local media was not welcomed. As a result, Karimov’s regime booted foreign broadcasters out of the country and purged the remnants of the local independent press by jailing and intimidating reporters.

Even after 5 years of the massacre almost no one in Uzbekistan is talking about it, local bloggers and journalists living in fear of Uzbek regime are silent, only those staying abroad are brave enough to remember that brutality.

EU foreign ministers gave up all demands set for the Uzbek government connected to the killings of hundreds of people in Andijan in May 2005 and lifted a weapons embargo from the country on 27 October.

Four years after the EU imposed sanctions on the Uzbek government for the Andijan massacre, the EU foreign ministers gave in to Tashkent’s stubbornness and abolished the last sanction.

Despite the embargo being a rather symbolic measure (Uzbekistan is happy with Russian-made weapons), Uzbekistan can now feel that it has been acquitted for its crimes of mass killings in Andijan.