Introduction
Uzbekistan covers a land area of 174,486 square miles (slightly larger than California). Its population is 25.8 million. Approximately 80% of the population is ethnic Uzbek, 5.5% Russian, 5% Tajik, 3% Kazakh, 2.5% Karakalpak, 1.5% Tatar, and others. Uzbeks are the most numerous Central Asian nationality- with 1.2 million in Afghanistan, 1 million in Tajikistan, and a half-million in Kyrgystan. Uzbekistan's GDP in 2003 was $9.0 billion; per capita GDP is about $349.
Islam Karimov is the president of Uzbekistan. Karimov has served in the Uzbek Communist Party throughout his political career. In 1989, he became First Secretary of the Uzbek Communist Party. In 1990, the Uzbek Supreme Soviet elected him to the newly created post of President, and he also became a member of the Soviet Communist Party Politburo. In December 1991, Karimov was popularly elected President with 86% of the vote against Erk Party candidate Mohammed Solikh.
Uzbekistan is the most populous Central Asian country and has the largest armed forces. There is no real internal opposition and the media is tightly controlled by the state. A UN report has described the use of torture in Uzbekistan as 'systematic'.
The rigidity of political control is mirrored in the tightly centralised planning of the economy. Economic reform has been painfully slow to materialise. A World Bank report in the summer of 2003 found economic growth and living standards to be amongst the lowest in the former Soviet Union. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development [EBRD) announced in April 2004 that it was slashing aid to Uzbekistan because of the country's failure to reform and its poor human rights record.
The emergence of radical Islamist groups in Central Asia led to increased security fears in Uzbekistan. A series of bomb blasts in the capital in 1999 left over a dozen people dead. The leadership blamed Islamic extremists, accusing them of seeking to kill President Karimov and destabilise the country.
