The Tajik Embassy in Russia has issued a statement that claims Uzbekistan has imposed a transport and energy blockade that jeopardizes the Tajik economy, Fergana news agency reported on Tuesday.
The statement claims Tashkent's restrictions on rail transportation and energy shipments to Tajikistan may cause “a humanitarian catastrophe” and are “aimed at destabilizing the socioeconomic environment.”
Since 2010 Uzbekistan has “systematically carried out the transport blockade of the southern and central regions of Tajikistan,” the statement said. It has delayed railcars bound for Tajikistan and, at the end of 2011, Uzbekistan stopped the transit of goods destined for Tajikistan's southern regions.
Uzbekistan recently decided to halt gas deliveries to Tajikistan and no longer provides transit of electricity from Turkmenistan to Tajikistan.
The statement also refers to the Uzbek embassy's efforts to prevent the construction of the Rogun hydropower plant in Tajikistan. Uzbekistan fears that the plant will reduce the flow of the Amu Darya River and, consequently, the amount of water available for agriculture. However, the statement said, Tajikistan needs a new hydropower plant to cover the energy deficit.
Officials in Tashkent have not commented on the statement.
