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Kyrgyz, Uzbek officials meet over border standoff
Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev waits for a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry at the Ala Archa compound in Bishkek, October 31, 2015. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Brendan Smialowski
25/03/2016
BISHKEK (Reuters) - Commanders of Kyrgyz and Uzbek border guards met on Friday for the first time since both sides deployed troops and armored vehicles in a disputed area, Kyrgyzstan's border guard service said in a statement.
"The meeting has been initiated by the Uzbek side," it said, adding that the two heads of border guard services met at a border crossing in another, quiet area. It provided no other details.
The border zone, which is not clearly demarcated, is a source of bilateral tension. Uzbekistan stationed two armored personnel carriers and about 40 soldiers near the Kyrgyz town of Kerben last week, prompting smaller Kyrgyzstan to send two of its own APCs and a similar number of troops.
Both sides say the confrontation is taking place on their side of the frontier.
It has sparked public protests on the Kyrgyz side and Kyrgyz president Almazbek Atambayev on Thursday accused his political opponents of trying to destabilize the country by escalating the border standoff.
A Reuters correspondent saw four APCs, two on each side, and about 20 armed servicemen, also split equally, in the disputed area on Friday.
Kyrgyzstan's foreign ministry said this week that the Bishkek government had demanded a complete withdrawal of Uzbek troops from the area. It has also called an urgent meeting of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation in Moscow.
Uzbekistan has not commented on the matter since a statement run by Uzbek media a week ago, which said it had reinforced its side of the border because the frontier had been temporarily closed due to road repairs and a public holiday.
(Reporting by Olga Dzyubenko; additional reporting by Hulkar Isamova in Kerben; writing by Olzhas Auyezov; editing by Peter Graff)
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