Report: Andijan
UNICEF Uzbekistan Communication Specialist, Anthony Burnett in Andijan Andijan is quiet, although people are returning to the streets and bazaars. A tension still pervades the city and there remains a strong military presence, with certain parts, ‘no-go’ areas. Myself and UNICEF Operations Officer, Radu Leontescu, drive to Andijan from Tashkent on 1 June, to organize the delivery of a consignment of medical supplies and equipment. Following the events in mid-May, the Ministry of Health and Andijan Oblast Health Department made an urgent request to UNICEF for essential items to be provided. Supplies include infusion kits, syringes, bandages, surgical items and medicines, which will be used to treat those injured in the earlier events. After meeting with local health officials, we are taken to visit Andijan central depot for medical equipment, where the UNICEF consignment is being unloaded. Additional World Health Organization supplies had also arrived. Having been checked, the consignment will now be sent to different hospitals and policlinics, where the injured are being treated, together those medical facilities where replacement medicines are required. Having ensured the safe delivery of medical supplies and checked the plan for distribution, we spend some time in the city, in order to observe the situation and conditions of people there. Following this, we then travel to the Uzbek-Kyrgz border town of Kara Su, where refugees from the Andijan crisis had fled.
The hour-long journey passes through tranquil agricultural land, where the local population are busy in the fields, tending to cotton plants. The apparent normality of rural life is interrupted by regular road-blocks, manned by military personnel. On the way we stop to speak to local people in order to ascertain their situation, however, responses are hesitant and nervous, following the initial hospitable greetings. We reach Kara Su and drive towards the footbridge between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, which had been closed. We leave our vehicle and approach on foot. The bazaar area around the footbridge is bustling and a relaxed atmosphere prevails. There is a military and police presence, but no obvious tension or uneasiness. The bridge is open and a slow trickle of people cross in both directions. Anecdotal evidence suggests that a few women and child refugees who had crossed to Kyrgyzstan, have now crossed back again and returned to their homes in Andijan. Local people banter amongst themselves as trading and transactions continue, however, there is a reluctance to speak to us. Understandably, the situation in Andijan and in other areas of the Fergana Valley will not return to ‘normal’ immediately. Enquiries are ongoing into the nature of and reasons for the events, but in the close-knit communities of this region, the mourning process will continue.
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