On Saturday, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan accused each other of further violations of the ceasefire that came into effect the day before.
Article written by
Posted
Update
Reading time : 1 min.
Kyrgyzstan announced on Sunday, September 18, the death of 12 more people during border clashes with Tajikistan this week, bringing its toll to 36 Kyrgyz killed in fighting between these Central Asian countries. “The number of killed is 36 people during the armed conflict in the Batken region”, located in southwestern Kyrgyzstan and bordering Tajikistan, the Kyrgyz Ministry of Health said. In a separate new report, the ministry also claimed that 134 people had been injured.
Faced with this serious outbreak of violence, the worst since April 2021, the two countries urgently agreed on Friday to a ceasefire, but then accused each other of having repeatedly violated it.
On Sunday morning, the Kyrgyz border guards nevertheless claimed that the night had passed “calmly, without incident”while noting that the situation remained “tense” on the border in the Kyrgyz regions of Osh and Batken. “The leaders of the two countries are taking all necessary measures to stabilize the situation, stop all escalations and provocations (…) in a peaceful manner”Kyrgyz border guards said on Sunday.
On Saturday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called officials from both sides by phone “to foster a dialogue for a lasting ceasefire”, said a United Nations spokesman. On Saturday morning, the Tajik Interior Ministry said civilians had been killed in Tajikistan during truce violations, without specifying the number since. Shooting between the two countries earlier this week had already caused the death of two Tajik border guards and injured.