Boucher Concerned By Rights Abuses In Uzbekistan
August 10, 2006
Richard Boucher (file photo) (RFE/RL)
Richard Boucher, the assistant U.S. secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs, said in Tashkent on August 9 the United States and Uzbekistan have "obviously very strong differences about the events in Andijon and human rights issues.
He was referring to the May 2005 uprising in the eastern city that was violently put down by government forces. Reports say hundreds of people were killed.
U.S.-Uzbek relations soured after Uzbek President Islam Karimov denied an international probe into the Andijon violence.
And in the past year, authorities have intensified a crackdown on opposition and rights groups, expelling media outlets and dozens of foreign-funded aid groups.
Boucher said after talks with Karimov that there are some continuing problems in the relationship between the United States and Uzbekistan.
(AP)