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This Saturday, new military confrontations were reported on the border shared by the former Soviet republics of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, with an initial balance of at least 24 civilians and soldiers and deaths and multiple injuries. The parties, which have been involved in these armed clashes for years, had just agreed to a ceasefire on the border after clashes the previous week. The UN and the European Union called for a lasting agreement.
This Saturday, September 17, the authorities of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan accused each other of new clashes with multiple fatalities and injuries on the border shared by both ex-Soviet nations, despite the fact that just the day before the heads of the security committees of Kyrgyzstan of the two countries celebrated an agreed ceasefire after other clashes left dozens of wounded the previous week.
Not 24 hours passed after the agreement when the parties were once again in an escalation of border violence. “In violation of previously reached agreements, the Tajik side started firing mortars at the town of Paski Arik in the Bakten region from 8:50 a.m.,” the Kyrgyz Border Service said in a statement on Telegram. And he specified that there would be 24 dead, more than 100 injured and that previously more than 130,000 people had been evacuated to avoid further damage.
For its part, the Ministry of the Interior of Tajikistan assured that the attacks by the Kyrgyz military caused “victims among civilians”, without giving any number or further information.
Clashes on the border are recurrent and have increased lately
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the creation of new states, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have had tense relations, however, in recent years there has been a growth in violence, mainly due to the control and distribution of water resources.
Similarly, of the 980 kilometers of border shared by the two nations, only about 600 kilometers of territory have managed to be demarcated.
By April 2021, Tajik officials attempted to install security cameras at the border to control the water supply, to which the civilian population responded with violence. Subsequently, the military forces of the two countries intervened, creating a larger conflict.
As a balance of the incident, 43 people died, more than 250 wounded and the increase in military tension between the two countries, which maintain constant confrontations
Last Wednesday, another series of clashes was reported, in which at least 11 people were injured, including civilians, although agreements were later reached between the two parties.
Attempts to prevent violence
Prior to the clashes this Saturday, the authorities of both republics agreed to a ceasefire. “The heads of the Security Committees of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, Kamchibek Tashaev and Saimumin Yatimov, respectively, agreed to a cessation of hostilities,” said a statement released by the Tajik side.
According to the Asia Plus portal, the meeting was held in Ravad, a Tajik-Kyrgyz border post and the meeting was also attended by representatives of the Ministries of the Interior and leaders of the border provinces of both countries, the portal added.
For their part, the leaders of both countries met this Friday within the framework of the summit of the members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which takes place in Uzbekistan.
There, the leaders held talks to try to find a solution, although they did not give more information about the meeting.
The West has also spoken
For his part, the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, asked the leaders of the two countries to advance a negotiation to establish a lasting ceasefire and a sustainable solution on the border.
“The United Nations stands ready to assist in identifying a sustainable solution to border disputes if requested by the parties,” the secretary-general said in a statement.
For its part, the EU spoke out and asked that “they spare no effort” to reach a solution to their differences “as soon as possible.”
“We call on both parties to ensure the effective implementation of the ceasefire and spare no effort to reduce tensions and reach a sustainable solution to existing differences as soon as possible,” said Peter Stano, spokesman for the European External Action Service.
The EU also reported that it had established diplomatic contact with the authorities of the two countries to help defuse the situation, according to the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell.
With EFE and local media
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