Kyrgyzstan: Headquarters of the Frontier Service Will Move South
Headquarters of the Frontier Service (FS) of Kyrgyzstan will be relocated to Osh, the southern capital of Kyrgyzstan located in the east of the Fergana Valley. Toktokuchuk Mamytov, the chairman of the Kyrgyz Frontier Service informed of this decision at the ceremony of handing the material and technical assistance provided under the Project on Creation of Mobile Units along the Green Border over to FS by the US Embassy in Kyrgyzstan.
Mamytov said that relocation of the FS headquarters to Osh was intended several years ago, however the process went slow due to a number of reasons, including lack of material and technical base, housing facilities and barracks.
The evident reason for relocating the FS headquarters to the South is to address problems arising at the border of Kyrgyzstan with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan which has not been officially determined yet. The FS residing in the immediate proximity to troublesome sections of the state border is expected to be better able to react to emergency incidents that frequently arise there and to monitor the situation.
Ferghana.ru occasionally reports of emergency incidents that occur at Kyrgyz-Uzbek and Kyrgyz –Tajik border. The list of such incidents so far includes illegal crossing of the border, conflicts between the residents of the frontier settlements with the border guards, illegal grazing of cattle on foreign territory, and execution of illegal engineering works along the border line. Moreover, the almost transparent border line through the Fergana Valley gives way to transportation of drugs from Afghanistan to Russia and Europe.
Probably the Russian battalion of Collective Rapid Reaction Forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization will be also deployed in the south of Kyrgyzstan. Their first maneuvers started in Kazakhstan on September, 15.