Deliveries Allowed To Uzbek Districts Inside Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyz authorities have agreed to allow Uzbek trucks carrying food and gasoline to cross into Uzbekistan's Sokh and Shokhimardon districts.

The exclaves are fully surrounded by Kyrgyzstan's Batken Province.

A spokesman for the provincial governor told RFE/RL the deliveries will not begin until the Uzbek side makes an official request and documents the amount of supplies being carried.

The vehicles have been stuck near the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border in Ferghana Province for days because border checkpoints there were closed.

The two districts have been cut off since Sokh residents, mainly ethnic Tajiks, clashed on January 5-6 with Kyrgyz border guards over the installation of electric power lines to a new Kyrgyz border post.

Five Sokh residents were reportedly wounded by Kyrgyz border guards.

About 30 Kyrgyz citizens were taken hostage and released later.