Uzbek Sanctions

The sanctions include a travel ban for leading government officials and an arms embargo, which was extended for 12 months and the visa restrictions for six.

The foreign ministers said in a statement they were "profoundly concerned by the human rights situation" in the country.

The 25-nation EU "urges Uzbekistan to implement fully its international obligations related to human rights and fundamental freedoms."

The EU foreign ministers, however, were to ease the suspension of a cooperation pact the bloc has with Uzbekistan, allowing expanded technical talks on human rights, which are planned in Tashkent before the end of the year.

The EU recently held low-level political talks with Uzbek Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov, urging him to make progress in implementing democratic reforms.

Diplomats said the ministers would review the sanctions every three months to put added pressure on Karimov to improve his human rights record and promote democracy.

EU distanced from Uzbekistan after Andijan killings

Rights groups have urged the EU to uphold all the measures, imposed "in the light of the excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force by the Uzbek security forces" to put down the Andijan uprising in May 2005.

Witnesses said at the time that hundreds of people were shot dead, although the Uzbek authorities said that 187 people had been killed, all due to the actions of Islamist insurgents.

The ban on arms which can be used for internal repression is likely to be renewed for a year, while the visa ban will be renewed for six months, the official said.

The news comes after a meeting last week between EU officials and Uzbek Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov, during which Uzbekistan proposed that a group of experts from both sides look into the massacre.

Germany pushed for sanction tone-down

Some EU countries, including Germany, wanted to soften the sanctions because they claim that it is time to re-launch dialogue with President Islam Karimov's administration as the measures have produced few results.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited Central Asia earlier in November, where he visited Uzbekistan and pushed for EU sanctions to be eased.

Following his visit to Uzbekistan, Steinmeier said the EU was ready to ease sanctions, provided the central Asian country gave clear assurances that it will improve its poor human rights record. However, his predictions have been

Analysts have claimed Germany is anxious to maintain its military base at Termez, in Uzbekistan, which provides access to Afghanistan for its troops.

Human rights groups

Human rights groups urged the 25-nation bloc last week to extend the visa ban to President Islam Karimov, and to freeze the banned officials' assets, saying the human rights situation had deteriorated since May 2005.

Holly Cartner, Executive Director of Europe and Central Asia for Human Rights Watch said prior to the EU decision that the human rights group would be "watching carefully" to see what the German government could achieve with talks.

"We will be focusing especially on the time between now the EU meetings that will review the sanctions regime against Uzbekistan," Cartner said. "If there are no concrete and significant improvements in human rights protection in Uzbekistan by that time, we expect the German government to support further expansion of the EU sanctions."

She added that this should include: "further expansion of the visa ban list to include President Islam Karimov and other key government officials and a freezing of assets of all those on the visa ban list and to pro-actively use those sanctions to press the Uzbek government for change."