More than 400 Uzbek refugees arrive in Romania
More than 400 Uzbek refugees arrived today in western Romania where they will be temporarily sheltered after fleeing violence in their Central Asian homeland.
The 440 refugees waved and flashed peace signs with their hands as they arrived in the airport in Timisoara.
The Uzbeks had taken refuge in Kyrgyzstan in May, after Uzbek security forces violently suppressed an uprising in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan.
The refugees will stay in a European Union-funded centre located in a former military barracks at the edge of Timisoara, 310 miles west of Bucharest.
Reporters were not allowed access to the refugees.
Foreign Minister Mihai Razvan Ungureanu said yesterday the Uzbeks would remain in Romania for up to six months and then would be sent to other countries, including the United States, the Netherlands and Canada.
Uzbek officials say 187 people died in the May 13 violence – half of them armed militants. It blamed the uprising on Islamic militants. Rights activists say as many as 750 people were killed, mostly unarmed civilians demonstrating against poverty and political and religious oppression in the authoritarian state.
The asylum seekers had been living at a UN-sponsored camp near the border with Uzbekistan.
Since then, Uzbekistan has been pressuring Kyrgyzstan to hand over the refugees, prompting the United Nations to make plans for moving the asylum seekers to another country, fearing they could face persecution or torture if they are forced to return home.
