Kyrgyz-Tajik Talks Progress On Easing Cross-Border Tensions

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have made progress in talks aimed at easing tensions over recent cross-border violence.

Kurbanbai Iskandarov, a member of the Kyrgyz delegation, told RFE/RL on August 7 that the talks had "brought some preliminary results."

Iskandarov said the neighbors will sign a final agreement after both meet mutually agreed conditions.

Clashes broke out along the border on August 3 after residents of the Tajik village of Chorkuh blocked a road that Kyrgyz residents of Kok-Tash use to reach a cemetery where relatives are buried.

In return, Kyrgyz residents blocked the water flow from a local canal to Chorkuh.

Iskandarov said Tajik officials agreed to reopen the road while Kyrgyzstan promised to unblock the canal.

Tension along the partially disputed Kyrgyz-Tajik and Kyrgyz-Uzbek borders have simmered since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.