- ANDIZHAN, Uzbekistan (Reuters)
- The families of hundreds of people killed by Uzbek troops in Andizhan
buried their dead on Sunday, two days after an uprising in the mostly Muslim
Central Asian state.
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- Following are 10 facts about Uzbekistan:
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- * Landlocked Uzbekistan, around the same size as Sweden,
borders Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan.
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- * It is the most populous of the five former Soviet republics
in Central Asia, with some 26 million inhabitants. Ethnic Uzbeks make up
around 80 percent, while Russians and Tajiks account for 10 percent and
Kazakhs around 3 percent.
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- * Since declaring independence from the Soviet Union
in 1991, Uzbekistan has been ruled by autocratic President Islam Karimov,
a former Communist Party boss who does not tolerate dissent and enjoys
wide powers.
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- * Islamic radicals were blamed for a string of bomb attacks
last year in Uzbekistan, including one in March that killed nearly 50 people.
Coordinated explosions at the U.S. and Israeli embassies in the capital,
Tashkent, killed three people in July of the same year.
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- * Tension had been rising in Andizhan before Friday's
events. Hundreds of people staged a rare public protest earlier in the
week to demand the release of 23 Muslims charged with religious extremism.
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- * Uzbekistan has been heavily criticised by the West
for human rights abuses. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
has put on hold loan programmes with the Uzbek government because of the
poor track record on abuses.
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- * Human rights bodies say there are at least 6,000 religious
and political prisoners in Uzbekistan, where only state-sponsored Islam
is allowed.
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- * Uzbekistan hosts a key U.S. airbase and is a Washington
ally in the war on terrorism.
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- * With large gas and oil reserves, Uzbekistan is self-sufficient
in energy. It is also among the world's top 10 gold producers and the number
five cotton producer.
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- * Delayed market reforms and tight state regulation have
caused a sharp fall in living standards. Monthly wages are about $30. The
International Monetary Fund has reduced its presence to a minimum due to
official reluctance to carry out reforms.
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