Tajik and Kyrgyz delegations met today over the yesterday’s shootout along the mutual border.
The parties agreed to withdraw troops to permanent deployments, find out the causes of the incident and reached agreement on security, land tenure and irrigation issues.
The negotiations are expected to end with signing of an appropriate protocol.
The meeting took place at the Ovchi-Qalacha – Kulundu border crossing point (BCP).
The press-center of the Sughd governor’s office says the Tajik delegation was represented by Tajik Border Guard Service chief, Colonel-General Rajabali Rahmonali, and Sughd Province governor, Rajabboy Ahmadzoda.
The Kyrgyz side was represented by Kyrgyz Border Guard Service chief, Ularbek Sharsheyev, and Batken Region governor, Abdikarim Rahmonali.
In an informal conversation with reporters, Sughd governor Rajabboy Ahmadzoda said the incident was caused by misunderstanding between two Tajik and Kyrgyz border guards. What exactly the border guards did not share is not specified.
Recall, two persons have been wounded in the latest shootout along the Tajik-Kyrgyz border. The incident has reportedly increased tension.
The shootout between Tajik and Kyrgyz border guards reportedly occurred Tuesday (April 12) evening near the Khistevarz jamoat in the Bobojon-Ghafourov district of the Tajik northern province of Sughd.
Bobojon-Ghafourov district head Zafarbek Davlatzoda Tuesday night confirmed in a telephone conversation with Asia-Plus that the shootout between border guards of the two countries took place near Tajikistan’s Khistevarz jamoat and Kyrgyzstan’s Borboduk village.
According to him, the shootout stopped after the meeting of the border representatives of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
“Currently, the situation is under control and assessed as stable,” Davlatzoda added. He refrained from giving further details of the conflict.
Meanwhile Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service, known locally as Radio Ozodi, citing its source, says a 27-year-old Tajik border guard Zoir Saidumarov was seriously wounded in the shootout.
“As a result of the shootout, the 27-year-old Sergeant Zoir Saidumarov, the native of the Dousti district in the Khatlon province, was seriously wounded. The sergeant has gunshot wounds to the abdomen and chest. Now he is operated on, his condition is serious,” Radio Ozodi’s source said.
Tajikistan’s border guard service has not yet commented on the conflict.
Meanwhile, Kyrgyzstan’s border guard service has accused Tajik border guards of triggering the conflict and opening fire on Kyrgyz border guards.
Kyrgyzstan's border guard service says one person has been wounded in the latest shootout near a disputed segment of the Kyrgyz-Tajik border.
A statement released by the Kyrgyz border guard service says border guards from the two countries started shooting at each other on April 12 near the village of Maksat in the Leilek district after Tajik border guards moved 20 meters inside Kyrgyz territory.
Kyrgyz border guards reportedly fired warning shots, but Tajik border guards then started shooting at the Kyrgyz border guards.
According to the statement, one border guard was hospitalized with serious injuries, and several villages in the Leilek district were evacuated.
The Kyrgyz border guard service described the situation along the border as tense and said the Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security is taking all measures to stabilize the situation.
Meanwhile, Kyrgyz news agency 24.kg, citing an official with the Ministry of Health of Kyrgyzstan, says two with shrapnel wounds, one civilian and one border guard, were admitted to a hospital in the Leilek district.
The Tuesday shootout took place just weeks after border guards from the two sides exchanged fire on March 10. According to a resident of Tajikistan’s Chorkuh jamoat, one Tajik border guard was killed and two others wounded then.
In late January, clashes erupted along a segment of the two countries' poorly demarcated border in a standoff over a blocked road.
Tajikistan's State Committee for National Security said at the time that two civilians were killed and 10 other people — six security force members and four civilians – were wounded.
Kyrgyz authorities said 12 Kyrgyz nationals were seriously wounded and more than 24,200 Kyrgyz citizens were evacuated from the area because of the fighting in January.
In April 2021, clashes involving military personnel along the Tajik-Kyrgyz border left dozens of people dead on both sides.
Almost half of the 970-kilometer Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan border has yet to be demarcated, leading to repeated tensions since the two countries gained independence after the breakup of the Soviet Union more than three decades ago.
Many border areas in Central Asia have been disputed since the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991.
The situation is particularly complicated near the numerous exclaves in the volatile Ferghana Valley, where the borders of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan meet.
