Fighting on the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan: 16 dead

Clashes broke out on the border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. As of Friday morning, April 30, the Kyrgyz authorities said that the number of victims reached 131 people. More details about the conflict were told by the edition with the BBC.

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13 people died, including a 12-year-old girl. Tajikistan reported three dead and 31 injured.

The conflict between countries has been going on for a long time. The main reason for the confrontation is access to the local main resource - water.

On April 30, the mutual shelling continued despite the agreement reached the previous evening to end the conflict and withdraw the troops.

“The houses of Kyrgyzstani people are burning in the village of Maksat. Local residents were evacuated to the villages of Marguni Darhun and Dargas. In addition, in the village of Arka, gas stations and retail outlets located along the road were set on fire,” RIA Novosti quotes a message from the Department of Internal Affairs of Kyrgyzstan.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Russia welcomes the ceasefire agreement between Bishkek and Dushanbe and is ready to assist in resolving the dispute.

Both countries, together with Belarus, Armenia and Kazakhstan, are Russia's allies in the military bloc of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

What happened

The Kyrgyz Border Guard Service reported that on April 29 in the evening, the Tajik side opened fire at three border outposts, as well as at two border posts.

They say that in response, Kyrgyz special forces have seized the Khoja Al'o Tajik border outpost.

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“Additional forces and means are being assembled along the entire perimeter of the Kyrgyz-Tajik state border on both sides,” the department said.

What agreed

On the evening of April 29, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan reported that the parties had agreed on a ceasefire at the border and the withdrawal of forces to the places of their former deployment.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan confirmed this information.

“In the near future, negotiations will begin in the city of Isfara between the heads of law enforcement agencies of the two countries,” RIA Novosti quotes a representative of the Tajik diplomatic department.

New aggravation

But, despite the agreements reached, by nightfall there were reports of a new exacerbation on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border and a shootout between Kyrgyz and Tajik border guards.

“By one o’clock in the morning in the Leilek district of the Batken region, the situation worsened again. In the border Kyrgyz villages of Arka and Maksat, border guards of the two countries are engaged in an intense exchange of fire,” said Damira Yusupova, press secretary of the Batken region Internal Affairs Directorate.

According to her, the police of Kyrgyzstan are working in an intensive regime. The local population was evacuated.

“The houses of Kyrgyz citizens and other objects are burning along the road,” she added.

The reason for the conflict

On the territory of Kyrgyzstan there is the Tajik enclave Vorukh with a population of several tens of thousands of people, as well as a large water intake, built during the Soviet era. It supplies water to the surrounding areas of the now independent states.

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In Tajikistan, they believe that the Kyrgyz authorities are dishonestly distributing water. In spring and summer, when agricultural work begins, water consumption increases tenfold, and the conflict escalates.

This time, the dispute began due to the fact that representatives of the Tajik side tried to install CCTV cameras on the post near the water intake, which allow monitoring the distribution of life-giving moisture.

Representatives of the Kyrgyz side were indignant and began to cut down the pole. A skirmish arose, the participants in the conflict began to throw stones at each other, and then shoot.

As always, military personnel from both sides were drawn into the conflict, a firefight ensued—according to the Kyrgyz side, Tajik border guards even used mortars.

Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan share more than 900 km of state borders, about half of which have been demarcated.

The border line is arbitrary and often runs along a road or along settlements. In most cases, it is impossible to determine where the border passes between states, so local residents have problems with access to water, pastures and roads.

The disputed territories make up about 30% of the border of the two countries and are the most tense sections of it.

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