BISHKEK -- Border officials for Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have discussed the latest developments along the disputed segments of the frontier between the two Central Asian nations amid a fresh rise in tensions over the weekend.
Kyrgyzstan's State Border Service said in a statement on August 23 that the talks were held in the Batken region, where unknown individuals hurled rocks at two Kyrgyz private cars after reports that the Tajik side had started construction work at the Golovnoi water intake facility, which is located on disputed territory.
The Kyrgyz State Border Service statement said the construction was halted after the talks.
In late April, efforts by Tajik officials to install surveillance equipment at the Golovnoi water intake led to violent clashes that involved military personnel and left dozens of people killed on both sides.
Many border areas in Central Asia have been disputed since the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991.
The situation is particularly complicated near the numerous exclaves in the volatile Ferghana Valley, where the borders of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan meet.