From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Wed Aug 30 2000 - 11:11:40 EDT
KYRGYZSTAN SAYS BORDER SITUATION DETERIORATING
General Bolot Djanuzakov, who is secretary of the Kyrgyz Security Council,
told journalists in Bishkek on 29 August that the situation
on Kyrgyzstan's southern border with Tajikistan worsened over
the previous two days, Interfax reported. He said Kyrgyz
government forces repelled an attempt by some 70 fighters,
presumably from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), to
cross into Kyrgyzstan during the night of 27-28 August. Two
groups of some 50 fighters each who attacked Kyrgyz border
posts near the Yangi-Daban pass and the Abramov glacier
during the night of 28-29 August were also driven back,
RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. The Kyrgyz forces suffered
no casualties in that operation. Djanuzakov added that Kyrgyz
and Uzbek troops have fully blocked the border between
Kyrgyzstan's Djalalabad Oblast and the Tashkent Oblast of
Uzbekistan and have killed nine Islamist fighters, according
to ITAR-TASS. Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the
fighting in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in a telephone
conversation with Kyrgyz President Askar Akaev on 29 August.
Also on 29 August, a spokesman for the Russian Border Guard
contingent in Tajikistan told Interfax that the situation on
the Tajik-Afghan border has deteriorated. LF
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