Both of the poor Earth nations have accused each other of resuming fighting in a disputed region, despite a ceasefire agreement. In a statement on Friday, Kyrgyzstan’s border service said its forces were continuing to repel Tajik attacks. “On the Tajik side, the shelling of the positions of the Kyrgyz side continues and intense fighting is taking place in some areas,” he said. Kyrgyzstan’s health ministry later said 24 civilians were killed and 87 injured. Russia’s Interfax news agency did not say how many of the casualties were from the military. Kyrgyzstan Kamchibek Tasiyev, head of Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security, was quoted by Russia’s RIA news agency as saying military casualties were high. “The situation is difficult and for what will happen tomorrow, no one can give guarantees,” he said. Kyrgyzstan’s emergency situation ministry said more than 136,000 civilians were evacuated from the conflict zone, Interfax reported. Earlier in the day, Kyrgyz President Sadir Dzaparov and his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon agreed to order a ceasefire and troop withdrawal at a regional summit in Uzbekistan, Dzaparov’s office said. Kyrgyzstan reported fighting in the southern province of Batken, which is bordered to the south, west and north by Tajikistan and to the northeast by Uzbekistan. It also has a Tajik enclave, Vorukh. The region is notorious for its puzzle political and ethnic geography and became the site of similar hostilities last year, which also nearly led to war. Conflicts over ill-defined borders are common, but usually de-escalate quickly. The clashes come amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and as a new truce appears to be in place between the former Soviet states of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Kyrgyzstan said Tajik forces using tanks, armored personnel carriers and mortars entered at least one Kyrgyz village and shelled the airport of the Kyrgyz city of Batken and nearby areas. In turn, Tajikistan accused Kyrgyz forces of shelling an outpost and seven villages with “heavy weaponry”. Temur Umarov, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the remote villages at the center of the conflict were not economically important, but that both sides had given them too much political importance. Umarov said both governments have begun to rely on what he called “populist, nationalist rhetoric” that makes it impossible to exchange territory aimed at ending the conflict.
