Uzbekistan Says Andijon Refugees Returning Voluntarily

Uzbek soldiers on the streets of Andijon a day after the bloodshed (epa) TASHKENT, July 19, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Uzbekistan's Foreign Ministry says that 12 Andijon refugees who have returned to the country in recent days did so voluntarily.

The refugees were given asylum in the United States through the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR. They were helped to return by the Uzbek Embassy in the United States.

The 12 were among more than 400 people who fled the violence in the eastern Uzbek city in May 2005.

In an interview with RFE/RL's Uzbek Service, a UNHCR spokesman, Andrej Mahecic, says it is the refugees' right to return, if they are doing so voluntarily.

But he noted that the same security concerns that prompted the UNHCR to evacuate the Uzbek citizens to third countries in the first place are still present in Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan's Foreign Ministry says the 12 refugees who have returned did so after it was established that they did not play any part in the violence in Andijon in May 2005.