Recent riots have left scores dead in Kyrgyzstan. Photo: Suzanne Moll/IMS

Caught in the crossfire and riots erupting over the weekend in the Kyrgyz city of Osh, Henrik Keith Hansen of IMS, describes the gruelling escape from a city in turmoil  

By Henrik Keith Hansen, IMS Consultant, Kyrgyzstan

There is a strange atmosphere here in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh this morning. Just around the corner from my hotel the street is blocked by at least 30 young men.

I had travelled to Osh to review the situation of media in Kyrgyzstan following the ousting of President Bakiyev in May 2010, as part of International Media Support’s efforts to support media in the country.

Day one

According to the Russian landlord of my hotel, the young men blocking the street only let a few Kyrgyz cars through. Walking in the streets, I watch them from a distance while I pass two Uzbek shops that are closed. But behind the windows and the security fence, I notice some people, but when a man knocks on the door they do not react.

In the streets women carry heavy bags of food supplies to make sure that their families have something to eat, if the unrest continues or even develops into something more serious.

My landlord told me that as he was driving his car in the early hours of the morning that he was stopped by young Kyrgyz men at a roadblock, who asked him, if he was with the Kyrgyz or the Uzbeks.

“I am Russian,” he told them, “so I am neutral.”

“If you tell us, whom you support, you will get these sunglasses,” they told him.

Obviously he had no other choice than to give them the answer they wanted. He got the sunglasses and rushed to the hotel, where I am now stranded with two OSCE observers from France and the Netherlands.

Ethnic clashes

Rumours fly, but it seems confirmed at this point that 17 have been killed, 27 seriously wounded and at least 120 injured. Shops have been burnt down – allegedly Uzbek shops. The Uzbek TV station Osh TV has been smashed, and the military and police are allegedly not in control of the situation.

People here say that there is no police in the streets at all, the roads to and from Osh are closed, the airport is closed to civilian traffic and the road to the airport is blocked by locals.

My contacts of Russian, Kyrgyz and Uzbek origin all say the same: this is ethnic. However, the authorities deny this.

Day two

The streets are teeming with gangs of young men armed with bats, sticks, axes, knives and other homemade weapons. More sophisticated gangs drive around in cars with their guns out of the windows. Houses and shops are on fire, and Uzbek neighborhoods have been burnt down. Blockades established by young men are seen at every intersection and in the middle of the larger roads.

From our hotel we hear more shooting coming from all directions, and see the smoke rising from fires everywhere. Ash falling from the sky becomes so thick that I can no longer sit outside in the closed courtyard of the hotel and use my computer.

My two OSCE colleagues and I at the small hotel really want to leave the city now. This is not just a small-scale conflict. It is growing by the minute.

Since yesterday different attempts to rescue us were tried, but failed. One attempt failed because the car could not find the hotel. Now, however, it seems as it will work.

We are told that an armored vehicle with a military escort is on its way to pick us up. It turns out to be a civilian bus with two elderly and unarmed soldiers. 

Heading for helicopters

I’m on the bus accompanied by the two unarmed soldiers and a growing number of foreigners being picked up from various locations on the way to the helicopter taking us to our plane out of Osh. 

At the next pick up point yet another unarmed soldier entered the bus. We often waited for a long time at the pick-up points, and the longer we waited the more armed youngsters would approach the bus. But they respected the orders from the soldiers on the bus to stay away and did not enter it. They mostly asked for weapons. When the bus was full, the last ones to be picked up closely followed the bus in a cortege.

Aggressive crowd accosts bus

As we got closer to the helicopter base we were escorted the remaining 500 meters along a narrow road by an armed military vehicle with around 8-10 armed soldiers sitting on top of it. Close to the entrance of the base we could see a large crowd of young men (estimated 70-80) and the mood on the bus became one of nervousness and unease.

As the armed military vehicle in front of us approached the crowd, the young men stepped in front of it and made it stop. They shouted that they wanted the soldiers’ weapons. This was denied, and the atmosphere was tense with shouts and stones being pelted at the soldiers.

Then the young men started to climb onto the vehicle from all sides demanding their weapons and began struggling with the passive soldiers. One soldier fell down and his weapon was taken by the young men while the rest of the soldiers started firing their weapons - apparently into the air. We all hid on the floor of the bus, but this did not stop the crowd, which still wrestled with the soldiers to get their weapons.

At this point the soldiers started firing directly into the crowd, hitting at least two men. The crowd turned their attention to our bus and aggressively demanded entry. This was denied and they began to throw rocks and stones at the bus and struck the bus with their sticks. The weapons they stole from the soldiers, however, were not used against the bus.

Heavy shooting

The crowd began to disperse, and in close pursuit of the armed vehicle, the bus followed at a high speed through the open gates to the base. We were dropped in front of two helicopters. Heavy shooting in various directions could be heard right next to the base, and the soldiers all fell to the ground to protect themselves. We did the same, but were in a middle of an open plain with no protection. It was however unclear to me in which direction the shooting came from and thus unclear if we were in direct danger where we stood.

It turned out that the helicopter destination was incorrect. We were therefore ordered to get back onto the bus and once again headed back out onto the streets for a brief moment before entering another entrance to the base.

The helicopters took us to the airplane heading to Bishkek and we were flown out. In the luggage compartment in the belly of the plane I counted 3 - 4 local women hiding among the luggage - apparently with the acceptance of staff on board. Four hours later I was on board another plane bound for Copenhagen via Istanbul.

At least 170 people have died in rioting which began in the cities of Osh and Jalalabad as of 15 June 2010.

IMS in Kyrgyzstan

In an effort to strengthen the media's ability to build awareness and promote peaceful dialogue in emerging democracies, IMS has in the past few years supported the media development in the Fergana Valley which includes southern Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tadjikistan. IMS has supported joint radio and tv productions which have been broadcast in all three countries.