Uzbek refugees receive permission to leave Kyrgyz camps

Bishkek/Geneva (dpa) - The United Nations refugee organization UNHCR on Wednesday announced that Uzbek refugees staying in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan will be permitted to travel to a third country.
The UNHCR representative in Bishkek said the organization had begun to move 455 refugees from the Kyrgyz section of the Fergana Valley to the capital Bishkek, where from there they will move to other receptive countries.

According to the Kyrgyz agency Akipress, the refugees are to be initially transferred to Romania.

The Russian Interfax news agency cited Canadian diplomats in Moscow as saying Canada may be one of the ultimate destinations for the refugees, who fear violence and torture from Uzbek police.

The refugees fled Uzbekistan in mid-May following the massacre of a reported 800 persons by the Uzbek military in the city of Andizhan.

The authoritarian regime of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, which justified its actions in the name of fighting terrorism, had demanded the return of the refugees. dpa sv gm mga