BISHKEK -- Uzbek Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov and his Kyrgyz counterpart, Jeenbek Kulubaev, have signed a number of documents on border delimitation, including an agreement on jointly managing the Kempir-Abad water reservoir, an issue that has been a hot-button issue between the two Central Asian neighbors.
The Kyrgyz Foreign Ministry said the documents were signed on November 3 in Bishkek.
According to the agreement on the reservoir, Kyrgyzstan will hand over to Uzbekistan the reservoir's territory, which covers 4,485 hectares, in exchange for over 19,000 hectares elsewhere.
The deal has been questioned by many politicians, activists, and some lawmakers, who insist that the deal around the water reservoir must be approved by the public and with open discussion.
More than 20 members of a group called Kempir-Abad Defense Committee have been arrested since October 23 and sent to pretrial detention for two months on a charge of planning riots over the border demarcation deal, which is more than three decades in the making.
The former Kyrgyz ambassador to Malaysia, Azimbek Beknazarov, former lawmaker Asia Sasykbaeva, well-known politicians Kanat Isaev, Jenis Moldokmatov, and Ravshan Jeenbekov, human rights defender Rita Karasartova, and other noted public figures and activists are among the jailed members of the committee.
The Kempir-Abad reservoir, which was built in 1983, is located in the fertile Ferghana Valley and represents a vital regional water source. Uzbekistan, whose population of 35 million is five times larger than that of Kyrgyzstan, uses most of the water from the area.
Many Kyrgyz civil activists, opposition politicians, and people living near the dam are against the deal, saying Uzbekistan should continue to be allowed to use the water but the reservoir's land should remain within Kyrgyzstan.
President Sadyr Japarov and his allies claim the deal benefits Kyrgyzstan and that Kyrgyz farmers will still have access to the water.
The two Central Asian countries share a border of more than 1,300 kilometers.