In the Kyrgyz border town of Kara Darya the impact of last week’s bloody crackdown by Uzbek authorities is still being felt. The reportedly 500 plus Uzbeks are struggling to gain legal status as refugees in Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyz officials are at present not expediting legal processing of the asylum seekers despite the fact that many say they are fearful for their lives if they return to Uzbekistan. Living in cramped conditions, KyrgyzInfo reports that the 540 refugees for the last week and half have been sleeping in ten tents designed for ten to 15 people, raising health concerns.

Originally established to simply process the refugees prior to their return to Uzbekistan, the camp was set up in open country on the Kyrgyz side of the border. The Kyrgyz Red Crescent and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are planning to deliver an additional 50 tents and blankets.

USAID has allocated $US50,000 to purchase food. Hot meals and electricity are provided, including the traditional Uzbek dish pilov and hot tea, an essential part of the Uzbek family diet.

“From Andijan we walked all night and arrived here early in the morning on May 14,” a 30-year-old man with a bullet wound in his left arm told TOL. Uzbeks in the border town of Teshiktosh helped them cross over to the Kyrgyz side, he said.

Not so Neighborly

But Kyrgyz officials in the southern regions are taking a more cautious view towards the asylum seekers. AP reported that Col Abdumajit Abdurakhmonov, the Kyrgyz officer in charge of security at the camp, had stated that authorities were sending back other refugees who had tried to reach the camp so as to halt a full-scale exodus.

“If we had let them all come, their number here [at the camp] would have been 10 times higher- 5000 instead of 500,” he said. This report was later denied by acting Foreign Minister Roza Otunbaeva who stated that her government was not seeking to return the Uzbeks.

Meanwhile, Uzbek President Islam Karimov last week sought support internationally from the authoritarian regime of China. China has been one of the few countries that has supported Mr. Karimov’s handling of the protests.

“We firmly support the crackdown on the three forces of separatism, terrorism and extremism by the Uzbekistan Government,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan told a news conference in Beijing.

Theorists though argue that although Uzbekistan appears quiet for now, such acts of force by the Government will not be forgotten easily.