Tag Archives: border

Uzbek and Kyrgyz officials meet

NOV. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek and Kyrgyz officials met in Ferghana City, Uzbekistan, to agree resolutions to seven more border dispute areas, the 24.kg news website reported. The border resolution process is part of a drive by Uzbekistan since the death of Islam Karimov in September to repair damaged relations with its neighbours. 24.kg reported that the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border was 1,378km long and that nearly a third of this has been disputed.

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(News report from Issue No. 305, published on Nov. 18 2016)

Georgia and Armenia unveil border crossing

NOV. 4 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenia and Georgia unveiled a new border crossing at Bagratashen and renewed vows to boost bilateral cooperation. At the inauguration ceremony, Georgian PM Giorgi Kvirikashvili met Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and stressed the importance of improved regional cooperation.

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(News report from Issue No. 304, published on Nov. 11 2016)

Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan patch up border disputes

BISHKEK, OCT. 31 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Delegations from Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan met to agree solutions to 49 long-running border disputes around the Ferghana Valley which, earlier this year, had threatened to tip into conflict.

The agreements mark the next stage in an unprecedented and surprising detente between the two rivals since Uzbek PM Shavkat Mirizyoyev was appointed acting president after the death of Islam Karimov in September.

This was the second of two meetings between the Uzbek and Kyrgyz deputy PMs. A third meeting is scheduled before the end of the year.

Bishkek-based analyst Elmira Nogoybaeva said the change in attitude in Tashkent was welcome but that Kyrgyzstan would need to see whether this was a genuine change of heart or a temporary fad.

“Such meetings are always welcomed by Kyrgyzstan, the question is how long will they last,” she said. “We all look to these meetings with optimism.”

The Ferghana Valley lies at the heart of Central Asia and analysts have previously said that if tension between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan over borders boils over into conflict, and this year there have been reports of Kyrgyz and Uzbek soldiers squaring up to each other, it will pull the whole region into war.

In Bishkek, people were optimistic. Ainagul, 43, said it was a positive but there would be problems ahead.

“Of course, it is good that borders are being delineated, now Kyrgyz people will know to whom territory belongs, and it will prevent conflict between Kyrgyz and Uzbek,” she said. “I still doubt though that conflicts on borders will stop altogether as we still have problems even on the Kyrgyz- Kazakh border which was supposed to have been delineated.”

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(News report from Issue No. 303, published on Nov. 4 2016)

China to build guard posts on Tajik-Afghan border

SEPT. 26 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — China said that it would build a network of 11 guard posts and one border guard training camp on the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border, a physical statement of its growing power and influence in Central Asia.

This is the biggest investment yet in Central Asia’s security by China. Earlier in the year it said it would build one guard post on the 1,345km border. Tajik soldiers will man the guard posts.

Raffaello Pantucci, an analyst at the RUSI think tank in London said that China was increasingly worried about Central Asia’s porous borders and especially the threat from Afghanistan were Uyghur separatist fighters have become allied to the Taliban.

“This is interesting because this is not a border with China. They are worried about Afghan security and how security affects China, especially the Uyghurs,” he said.

China has increasingly imposed itself on Central Asia, funding major infrastructure projects, building gas pipelines and buying up metals and energy companies but, other than war games through the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which China heads with Russia, it has always avoided a direct military link.

Its soldiers will not patrol the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border once the guard posts are built but it still embeds China deeper into the military psyche of Central Asian states.

When NATO withdrew from Afghanistan, the West pulled out of Central Asia. Russia has, in contrast, invested in its bases in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Mr Pantucci, the RUSI analyst, said China’s move was not meant as a challenge to Russia in Central Asia.

“I don’t think the Chinese would be doing anything in Central Asia without the tacit support of the Russians,” he said.

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(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)

China to close border with Kyrgyzstan

SEPT. 29 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Chinese authorities said they would shut border crossings with Kyrgyzstan for three days at the beginning of October because of a national holiday. It is not uncommon for countries to close off their borders in connection with national holidays, but this decision seems to be tied to worsening security between the two countries. China and Kyrgyzstan blamed on Uyghur separatists an attack to the Chinese embassy in Bishkek in late August. China has not said it will close any other international border during this hoilday.

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(News report from Issue No. 298, published on Sept. 30 2016)

Azerbaijan proposes talks with Armenia

SEPT. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s foreign minister Elmar Mammadyarov said his country is ready to hold more talks with Armenia to settle the long-lasting dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Mr Mammadyarov spoke with OSCE special representative Lamberto Zannier on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. In April, four days of fighting between Azerbaijan’s army and Armenia-backed forces punctured a fragile 1994 UN-organised ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

Border tension eases between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan

SEPT. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Border tensions between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan have eased since the beginning of the month when the Uzbek army seized a telecoms and radio tower in a disputed area, media reported. Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan argue over ownership of the Kasan-Sai reservoir and the Ungar-Too mountain.

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(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)

S. Ossetian fighters detain Georgian man

JUNE 2 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Fighters linked to the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia detained a Georgian man for illegally crossing the border, said Georgia’s government. Akaki Misireli, 65, was sent to a detention centre in Tskhinvali, the capital of the de facto state that was the focus of a brief war between Russia and Georgia in 2008. South Ossetian forces released Mr Misireli later but the incident highlights just how sensitive the border around the breakaway region is.

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(News report from Issue No. 283, published on June 3 2016)

Georgia accuses Russia of killing man

MAY 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — Georgia’s government accused Russian soldiers patrolling along the border of the breakaway region of Abkhazia of shooting dead one of its citizens.

The foreign ministry issued a statement which said that Giga Otkhozoria, 31, had been shot six times while he had been on the Georgian side of the border.

“This criminal act once again demonstrates the highly alarming situation in the occupied region of Abkhazia, Georgia and the full responsibility for it lies with the Russian Federation as it is effectively in control of the region,” Georgia’s foreign ministry said.

Russia denied the allegations.

“The Georgian MFA used this case for its usual propaganda exercise,” the Russian foreign ministry said.

Relations between Georgia and Russia have been improving since Mikheil Saakashvili lost power in Georgia in 2013. Under his presidency, Georgia had fought a brief war with Russia in August 2008 for control of South Ossetia.

Russia defeated Georgia and strengthened its military support to South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Over the last three years, relations between Russia and Georgia have improved although border incidents expose the unease between the two neighbours.

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(News report from Issue No. 282, published on May 27 2016)

Armenia to debate status of Nagorno-Karabakh

May 5 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s government sent a bill proposing the recognition of Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent country to parliament, teeing up another flashpoint with Azerbaijan over the disputed region.

This is the first time that the parliament will formally debate the status of Nagorno-Karabakh even though it has been run by Armenia- backed forces since a UN-brokered ceasefire was imposed in 1994.

Last month the worst fighting in two decades broke out around Nagorno-Karabakh, killing several dozen people and alarming the international community.

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(News report from Issue No. 279, published on May 6 2016)