Pogroms leave Uzbek refugees in fear of their lives

THOUSANDS of ethnic Uzbeks massed on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan refused to return home yesterday, saying they fear for their lives after violent pogroms and don’t trust Kyrgyz troops to protect them.

Associated Press reporters saw some 50 Kyrgyz troops, many in armoured transport carriers, enter the border village of Suratash and try to reassure refugees in this Central Asian nation that it was safe to return home.

Yet the soldiers’ very presence terrified the families – ethnic Uzbeks who fled after attacks and arson by ethnic Kyrgyz – since they blame Kyrgyz troops for abetting the violence that left hundreds of Uzbeks dead and hundreds of thousands homeless.