The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is debating closing down all its operations in Uzbekistan because of the deteriorating political situation there, a senior bank official told Reuters on Monday. The EBRD, the development bank for the region, said earlier this year it would stop funding public sector projects in the central Asian state, citing concern about incidents in May, when Uzbek forces opened fire on demonstrators in the town of Andizhan, killing scores of people. \"For the time being, the EBRD\'s status is to invest only in the private sector in Uzbekistan,\" said Bruno Balvanera, head of business development at the EBRD. \"But there is pressure from our shareholders to pull out completely and not engage in Uzbekistan at all.\" \"We would like to stay in Tashkent but the political situation there is not good,\" he said on the sidelines of an investment conference in London. \"There is an ongoing debate about this.\" Witnesses say over 500 people may have died in the Andizhan incident but the Uzbek government said 187 people -- mainly \"foreign-paid terrorists\" were killed. The incidents put a spotlight on human rights abuses in the mostly Muslim country of 24 million by President Islam Karimov\'s government. Several Uzbek men were sentenced to between 14 and 20 years for their role in the May incidents but Western countries and human rights groups have condemned the trial. The human rights issue has already prompted the EBRD to stopped funding projects in two other ex-Soviet states, Turkmenistan and Belarus. Balvanera said the EBRD\'s involvement in Uzbekistan has been shrinking in past years as the political situation weighed and economic reforms stalled. Just $40 million is likely to be invested in 2005, similar to last year\'s levels, he added. \"In practical terms, our operations in Uzbekistan are already much reduced -- there is not much difference between doing $40 million and doing nothing at all,\" he said. (Reuters)