Elaman Karymshakov
The Kyrgyz authorities accused the neighboring country of shelling vehicles in the conflict over access to water resources, the Akipress agency said on Saturday. Instead of the agreed withdrawal of troops, the Tajik side continues to bring soldiers and heavy equipment to the border. Tajikistan denied the shelling. Regardless of this, efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict are ongoing.
The conflict escalated in the middle of the week when Tajik officials tried to install a video camera near a water distribution station. Kyrgyz citizens resisted it. They initially threw stones, as the media reported. Then both sides reinforced their border troops, who then shot each other. The governments of both countries on the border with China blamed each other for the escalation.
Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rachmon spoke once more on the phone with his Kyrgyz colleague Sadyr Schaparov. Both politicians had insisted on keeping the agreed ceasefire, said Rachmon’s office. The two heads of state also agreed to meet. The time and place were initially unknown. The two ex-Soviet republics also wanted to negotiate about the future military presence on the border.
According to information from both sides, more than 40 people have died since Wednesday. According to the Kyrgyz Ministry of Health in Bishkek, 33 people were killed and 166 injured in the fighting. On the Tajik side, there were earlier reports of 10 dead and around 90 injured. Tens of thousands of people in the border villages of Kyrgyzstan have been brought to safety. A two-day state mourning was also declared in the country.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Central Asian republics gained their independence in 1991. For decades, however, there have been disputes and violent clashes around almost half of the almost 1,000-kilometer-long border.