DUSHANBE, December 23, 2011, Asia-Plus — Freight cars bound for Tajik Khatlon province are being suck in Uzbekistan because Tajikistan refuses to receive them, O’zbekiston Temir Yollari (Uzbek state rail company) told REGNUM in an interview, commenting on Tajik MPs’ appeal to their Uzbek colleagues over the Khatlon rail problems.
According to the Uzbek state rail company, 327 freight cars bound for Tajik Khatlon province are being stuck in Uzbekistan.
O’zbekiston Temir Yollari reportedly claims that the Tajik side has not rendered any assistance so far to resolve the problem.
We will recall that the bridge on the train track between the Uzbek towns of Ghalaba and Amuzang was damaged overnight on November 16-17 that caused rail traffic between Termez in Uzbekistan and the Tajik city of Qurghon Teppa to be shut down.
Tajik Railways wrote to O’zbekiston Temir Yollari as early as November 17 proposing assistance to resume rail traffic between Termez and Qurghon Teppa as soon as possible.
Uzbek rail authorities have redirected Khatlon-bound trains to Dushanbe and the Dushanbe railway station is currently receiving passenger trains bound for the south of the country. But the Dushanbe railway station is not able to receive the Khatlon-bound freight cars and organize further delivery of cargo into Khatlon, the Tajik rail authorities noted. They informed their Uzbek colleagues of these problems on November 22.
Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported on December 14 that the head of the UN”s World Food Program (WFP) office in Tajikistan says Uzbekistan”s decision to block rail traffic to Tajikistan threatens to create severe food shortages.
The WFP”s Alzira Ferreira told RFE/RL on December 13 that even food being sent to Tajikistan as humanitarian aid is not reaching its destination due to the Uzbek authorities” refusal to allow trains bound for Tajikistan to pass through Uzbekistan. Ferreira said there are 23 trains with food stocks organized by the WFP waiting to make the last part of their journey into Tajikistan.
The WFP regularly provides aid to some 500,000 people and 2,000 schools located mainly in Tajikistan”s southern Khatlon region.
Ferreira said food prices in Tajikistan are rising due to the shortages caused by the blockade of rail traffic and an increasing number of Tajiks are unable to afford basic goods.
In its appeal to Uzbek MPs adopted on December 16, the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower chamber of parliament) notes that two regions of Tajikistan – Khatlon and Gorno Badakhshan – have remained in blockade for nearly a month as Khatlon-bound freight cars have still been stuck in Uzbekistan. “Autumn sowing campaign as well as construction of schools and hospitals in these regions have been delayed and the delay in delivery of humanitarian aid to the mentioned regions evokes serious concern.”
The blockade of the rail traffic into southern Tajikistan has also impeded the passage of nonmilitary cargo to Afghanistan for international forces, the appeal said, noting that foreign companies operating in Khatlon and Gorno Badakhshan are also bearing losses, the appeal said.
