Though the sequence of events is unclear, a recent border scandal has opened a new chapter in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan’s fraught relations. In late August, border and customs officials from both countries took a few of their counterparts hostage. The standoff ended peacefully, for now, in a prisoner exchange late on September 5.
The press-uz.info news agency is the only major outlet in Uzbekistan’s tightly controlled online media bubble that has dared to cover the recent border disputes in detail. But their take is predictable.
The news agency, believed by Tashkent insiders to be controlled by President Islam Karimov’s Security Council, has made the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border a priority since it first reported on a plundering raid by Kyrgyz border guards on the night of August 28, and the valiant efforts of Uzbek officials to defend their countrymen.
“Having seized 22 head of sheep belonging to Uzbek farmer Abdumalik Khoshimov, Kyrgyz border guards retreated to their territory. After holding talks, Ferghana District law-enforcement bodies managed to retrieve the stolen livestock,” press-uz.info reported.
But with each new development, the news agency hardened its tone. In an August 30 report, the news agency said Kyrgyz border guards were extorting money from Uzbek citizens in border villages and suggested that “brazen, unscrupulous, and predatory” abuses by the Kyrgyz military in border areas might cause a “new outburst of resentment” among Uzbeks.
Press-uz.info’s outrage peaked on September 2 when it openly blamed Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva for the ongoing instability in Kyrgyzstan and suggested her inability to reign in the security forces could spark international violence. Wary Uzbekistan must be vigilant:
“As we see, the situation with bilateral relations at the ‘people’s’ level is far from ideal, and it will hardly become so ever. Another scandal will break out, or worse – a slaughter on the border. And the likelihood of this is growing every day because the Kyrgyz army remains, as we see, on its own account, disengaged from the country’s leadership which is totally incapable of controlling its armed forces.”
Such a prophecy suggests something is afoot. The Uzbeks are nervous about the poorly defined border, especially after June’s bout of ethnic violence in southern Kyrgyzstan. Tashkent also fears being dragged into a regional conflict by those who are responsible for “subversive actions organised and managed from outside.” The message: Kyrgyzstan is teeming with bogeyman. But, from Tashkent's view, what else is new?
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