Kyrgyzstan’s main international airport yesterday said that scores of passengers flying from neighboring Tajikistan had been barred from entering the country weeks after border clashes between the Central Asian nations left dozens dead.
The incident is likely to further sour relations between the impoverished former Soviet republics whose disputed border witnessed its worst fighting in three decades of independence at the end of last month.
Kyrgyzstan reported 37 deaths from the clashes that saw border troops open fire on each other and led to the destruction of dozens of homes on both sides.
The dead were mostly civilians, including two children, Kyrgyzstan said.
Tajikistan said 19 of its citizens died in the violence.
A representative of Manas International Airport in the capital, Bishkek, told reporters that the plane operated by Tajik carrier Somon Air had been asked to return back to Tajikistan’s capital, Dushanbe, after landing on Tuesday night, because Kyrgyzstan’s border service had “temporarily closed the border for citizens of Tajikistan.”
Kyrgyzstan’s border authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A spokeswoman for Tajikistan’s embassy in Kyrgyzstan confirmed the incident to reporters and said that the two countries were in negotiations.
“Less than 10 people — not citizens of Tajikistan, were allowed into Kyrgyzstan,” the spokeswoman said of the about 200 passengers on the plane.
A further 70 citizens of Tajikistan had been unable to fly back from Bishkek to Dushanbe, she said.
Kyrgyz authorities had informed the embassy that this was due to entry and exit restrictions imposed on citizens of Tajikistan, the spokeswoman said.
“But there had been no official notification of this [restriction] from the Kyrgyz authorities,” she added.
The two countries, which are members of Russia and China-backed security blocs, retained high-level contacts throughout the three days of fighting at the border that saw Moscow and neighboring Uzbekistan offer to mediate.
A ceasefire reached on April 29, the day the conflict erupted, held from May 1 onward, while the presidents of the two countries agreed to meet in the near future following telephone talks.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was