Tensions are escalating between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan due to water shortages and subsequent border delays.
Severe droughts in Central Asia have led to significant water shortages, affecting farming in the region and causing tensions between Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
As a baking July segued into August, beet farmers in the province were indeed without water -- irrigation water that they would otherwise have received from a reservoir in neighboring Kyrgyzstan.Some were aiming their complaints at local authorities, an alarming development for authorities in the Kazakh capital, Astana.to the area.
Truckers at Ak-Tilek say Kazakh border officials are slowing the passage of vehicles to around six per day. The usual pace is about 20 per hour. It was Mirziyoev's office that sounded the alarm in April, with a presidential decree rolling out emergency water-saving measures in lieu of forecasts that the region's Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers would see their water levels drop between 10 percent and 20 percent this year.
"Almost always when there is not enough water, tensions arise between neighbors. The mechanisms for their resolution leave much to be desired," he added. Kazakhstan has stopped short of accusing Kyrgyzstan of playing water games, but an August 9 Ecology Ministry statement highlighted the discrepancy between volumes in the Kirov water reservoir this year and last year -- some 144.8 million cubic meters more than that total.
"The Kyrgyz side is working perfectly. The Kazakh side is a real pain," said a driver named Igor, speaking to RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service. The response was swift, and -- just like this week -- long lines soon began appearing on the Kyrgyz side of the pair's shared border as the Kazakh side announced an extended operation to combat smuggling.
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