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Border conflict in Central Asia – Kyrgyzstan accuses Tajikistan of breaching ceasefire – News

16 September 2022

After a ceasefire on the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, “intense fighting” broke out again on Friday.
Both countries accuse each other of having resumed fighting in the border area despite a ceasefire agreement.
Around 19,500 people have now fled the region. Around 120,000 people were evacuated in the Batken border region of Kyrgyzstan on Friday.

The fierce fighting in the border dispute between the two former Soviet republics of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in Central Asia is coming to a head. On the Kyrgyz side, both soldiers and civilians have died, according to the National Security Council in the capital, Bishkek. Depending on the source, there is talk of 4, 17 to 27 fatalities.

According to the Kyrgyz authorities, around 120,000 people were brought to safety from the Batken border region. Almost 20,000 people have already fled the region, the Russian news agency RIA reported, citing the Red Crescent Organization.

A crisis session of the Kyrgyz Parliament was scheduled for Friday evening. It cannot be ruled out that the country will declare a state of war, said Deputy Dastan Bekeshev.

The latest skirmishes occurred during an international summit in neighboring Uzbekistan. The meeting was attended by the Presidents of Russia and China, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, as well as the heads of state of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

ceasefire agreed

On the fringes of the meeting of the Cooperation Organization (SCO) there was also a discussion between the presidents of the two countries. The Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov and the Tajik head of state Emomali Rakhmon agreed on a ceasefire from Friday afternoon, as the Kyrgyz Presidential Office had announced. Tajikistan also confirmed the mutual withdrawal of troops.

According to Kyrgyzstan, the ceasefire should come into force on Friday afternoon and include a troop withdrawal. Tajikistan had confirmed this information. However, the Kyrgyz border guards then said that Tajik forces had again shelled two villages on the Kyrgyz side.

For the first time in three years, the summit meeting of the Organization for Cooperation (SCO) took place in the presence of the heads of state and government. Because of the pandemic, the so-called Shanghai group only held virtual conferences.

The SCO was founded in 2001 to fight terrorism. It includes China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Iran, which, like Belarus and Mongolia, had observer status, was admitted to the current meeting. In addition, the process for the admission of Belarus began. Partner countries of the SCP are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union more than 30 years ago, the two countries Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan (often also called Kyrgyzstan on maps) have been arguing at numerous points over the course of the approximately 1000-kilometer border.

In other regions on the fringes of the former Soviet Union, smoldering conflicts have also been escalating for years. A few days ago, in the South Caucasus, Azerbaijan attacked its neighbor Armenia. Russia includes these former Soviet republics in its sphere of influence, as does Ukraine.