Uzbekistan votes to evict U.S. troops from military base

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Last Updated Fri, 26 Aug 2005 08:57:18 EDT
CBC News

The Uzbek State on Friday endorsed the government's decision to evict U.S. troops near a military base. The 93 senators voted unanimously to support the July order from President Islam Karimov, giving the United States six months to vacate the airbase at Karshi-Khanabad, in the southern Kashkadarya region.

The United States and other western countries harshly criticized Uzbekistan for using force against mostly unarmed civilians in an uprising in Andijan on May 13. While rights groups said up to 750 people died in the crackdown, the government put the death toll at 187.

Karimov, who has governed the Central Asian country for 16 years, blamed the violence on Islamic militants, and has rejected the demands for an outside inquiry. Strong support has come from Russia and China, both wary of the U.S. military presence in the strategic and resource-rich region.

"We know that fundamentalist moods arise wherever U.S. bases appear," Kashkadarya governor Nuritdin Zainiyev said before the vote. "Enemies of the United States appear wherever there is a U.S. military presence, and we don't want to be caught in-between."

Zainiyev also complained that Uzbekistan had spent $160 million US to maintain the infrastructure of the Karshi-Khanabad base since the arrival of U.S. troops, and the U.S. "didn't pay anything."

The base has been an important staging point for U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, being used to move supplies, including humanitarian aid, into northern Afghanistan. It also is a refuelling point for transport planes.

The vote in the lower chamber was not necessary to confirm the government's order, but was being used to show popular support.