Tensions escalate over two proposed dams in central Asia: Kambarata-1 in Kyrgyzstan and the Rogun Dam in Tajikistan. These dams could affect water supplies in the downstream nations of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan. Uzbekistan’s president, Islam Karimov, says the dams could cause “not just serious confrontation, but even wars.”
A water and land dispute between villagers living on the border between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan escalates when Kyrgyz villages block a canal to prevent water flowing to farmers on the Kazakh side of the border.
In Kyrgyzstan an Uzbek farmer is killed by his Kyrgyz neighbor who reportedly attacks him over access to irrigation water.
Security forces in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan clash over a border dispute. Among the targets of the violence, which leave security forces wounded on both sides, are a small dam and electricity substation inside Kyrgyzstan. The local grievances include disputes over access to pasture and water resources.
Clashes between farmers over irrigation water across the Tajikistan-Kyrgyzstan border escalate, with at least two instances involving armed guards to defuse the fights. One fight started over the installation of a water pump.
Tajik guerrilla commander Makhmud Khudoberdyev threatens to blow up a dam on the Kairakum channel if his political demands are not met.
The Tyuyamuyun reservoir in the delta of the Amu Darya is a point of contention between Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Violence occurrs in 1992 over the re-direction of drainage waters and raids by both sides to cut off pipes and irrigation canals. Today, the Tyuyamuyun remains one of several disputed areas in continuing water dispute with Uzbekistan.
Continued serious water tensions between Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan lead to the deployment of 130,000 Uzbekistani troops on the Kyrgyz border to guard reservoirs straddling the two countries. Uzbekistan accuses Kyrgyzstan of releasing too much water from the Toktogul reservoir. Kyrgyzstan, through media leak, hints that in case the reservoir would be blown up, the resulting flood would sweep away Uzbekistan’s Ferghana and Zeravshan Valleys.
Security forces in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan clash over a border dispute. Among the targets of the violence, which leave security forces wounded on both sides, are a small dam and electricity substation inside Kyrgyzstan. The local grievances include disputes over access to pasture and water resources.
Kyrgyzstan cuts off water to Kazakhstan until coal is delivered; Uzbekistan cuts off water to Kazakhstan for non-payment of debt.