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BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan: The Kyrgyz government has said it is open to mediation efforts by international organizations to resolve the conflict on its border with Tajikistan as tensions remained high on Wednesday following heavy fighting that left at least 100 people dead.

The two Central Asian nations share a 972-kilometer border, a third of which has been disputed in the aftermath of the Soviet era, when Moscow tried to divide the region between ethnic groups.

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have accused each other of “aggression” following intense battles between Sept. 14 and 16 reportedly involving the use of tanks, aircraft, and rocket artillery. The clashes have led to the evacuation of around 140,000 people from a disputed section of the border in Kyrgyzstan’s Batken and Osh regions.

Though the two governments agreed on a ceasefire last Friday, the atmosphere was still tense at the border.

In a statement, the Border Service of the State Committee for National Security of Kyrgyzstan said: “The situation on the Kyrgyz-Tajik section of the state border in the Chon-Alai district of the Osh region and Batken region is relatively stable, but with elements of tension.”

Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov said his country was “never the first to start and never will” during his speech at the UN General Assembly in New York, adding that Bishkek had been “forced to respond to the aggression of the Tajik side.”

He added that Kyrgyzstan was “ready to continue negotiations” and welcomed mediation efforts by international organizations.

The participation of intermediaries, such as the UN and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, may be necessary to resolve the ongoing dispute, experts in Kyrgyzstan said.

Kyrgyz political scientist, Sheradil Baktygulov, told Arab News: “It is necessary to invite a mediator to resolve the situation and prevent further escalation.

“Since the Kyrgyz side is the initiator, according to international law, Tajikistan’s consent to the presence and assistance of an independent and competent arbitrator is not required,” he said.

Emil Juraev, an analyst from the Soros Foundation-Kyrgyzstan, highlighted the need for a mediator to move negotiations along.

“It is also not necessary to resort to the services of any individual state,” he told Arab News, alluding to Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan’s alliance with Moscow.

“For example, Russia – this country is itself in a state of war and has completely discredited itself on the world stage.”

The second largescale conflict on the Kyrgyz-Tajik border in 18 months may have been sparked by domestic politics in the Tajikistan capital Dushanbe, Dr. Asel Doolotkeldieva from the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, told Arab News.

She noted that Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon was “going to ensure the transit of power and hand over the reins of government to his son Rustam.

“However, the political elite is not ready to unanimously accept this,” she added. “The image of an external enemy is needed to mobilize the population around the person of Rahmon and his entourage.”

When the attacks began, those who lived in the villages on the border were forced to run toward the mountains for safety. With only a horse and a cart, Busalikha Egemberdieva from Dakhma, Batken was not able to get very far. Only with the help of a neighbor did she and her family make it to safety, and they are now sheltering with her relatives in the neighboring Osh region.

“Children are constantly crying. They are scared. I don’t know when we can go home. They say the village is not safe. We also heard that unexploded shells are still being found on the way to Batken,” Egemberdieva told Arab News.

“What we want is for the authorities to resolve the issue of borders as soon as possible. It is impossible to live on a powder keg,” she said.

“At my house at the door there is a packed suitcase with everything I need just in case. I would like to say that we are used to war, but it is impossible to get used to it. The children if I wake them up early, immediately ask, ‘have the Tajiks attacked again?’”

NEW YORK CITY: The plight of women in Afghanistan under the Taliban is not only an issue of concern for the wider international community, “it should be an issue for the Muslim world” to address, Pakistan’s foreign minister, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, told Arab News on Friday.

Since the Taliban seized control of Kabul in August 2021, following the withdrawal of Western troops from the country, two decades of progress in the rights of women to education, employment and empowerment have been dramatically rolled back. As a result there have been calls for the international community to increase pressure on the regime to reverse the trend.

Bhutto Zardari said that while Pakistan is waiting with the rest of the international community for “the interim Afghan regime” to keep its initial promise that girls would be allowed to attend school and gain a secondary education, the issue should also be one “for the Muslim Ummah” in particular.

“Because Islam is what first gave women their rights,” he said. “Islam is what guarantees women their rights to participate within society and their rights to education.

“So we expect, not only in Afghanistan but across the world, for women to not only be guaranteed these rights but also for these rights to be protected.”

Bhutto Zardari’s mother, Benazir Bhutto, was the first woman to lead a democratic government in a Muslim-majority country.

Naheed Farid, a women’s rights activist who in 2010 became the youngest-ever politician elected to Afghanistan’s parliament, this month urged world leaders to label the Taliban a “gender apartheid” regime.

Speaking to reporters in New York, she said: “Afghan women are experiencing one of the biggest human rights crises in the world, and in the history of human rights.

“What is happening in Afghanistan is gender apartheid. I’m not the first to say that. But the inaction of the international community and decision-makers at large makes it important for all of us to repeat this every time we can.”

Farid called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and other multilateral bodies to create a dedicated platform for Afghan women to directly negotiate with the Taliban on issues of women’s rights and human rights.

Bhutto Zardari, who is currently chairperson of the OIC’s Council of Foreign Ministers, told Arab News that “before our chairmanship expires” he plans to convene an event, under the auspices of the organization, to focus on the rights of women in Islam.

The minister also spoke about the visit this week of a Pakistani-American delegation to Israel, the second such visit after a similar one in May. The visits have sparked speculation that Pakistan might be turning the page in its relations with Israel, perhaps paving the way for normalization.

The group visiting Israel this week includes prominent Muslim-Americans, South Asian-Americans, and members of the American Muslim and Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council. The delegation had stated that its goal is “to continue the peacemaking efforts that started with the visit of the first delegation of interfaith leaders (and) help encourage Pakistan-Israel relations and Pakistan’s connection to the Abraham Accords.”

However, Bhutto Zardari said that the delegations have “nothing to do with the government” of Pakistan and that there are no official discussions taking place about Pakistran joining the Abraham Accords, a series of recent normalization agreements between Israel and a number of Arab countries, including the UAE and Bahrain.

“Let me reiterate: Absolutely not,” said Bhutto. “Pakistan’s position on the question of Palestine is clear and always has been.

“As far as these delegations are concerned, I believe that there’s some sort of international nongovernmental organizations that are sending people between countries or civilizations, as far as my information is concerned.

“It has nothing to do with the government … but each time some of these NGOs set up these interfaith or interconnected events it just so happens, because either some of the people going are dual citizens of Pakistan or have some sort of connection in Pakistan, it’s hyped up in social media as a component of our foreign policy, which it absolutely isn’t.”

DHAKA: Bangladeshi garment manufacturers are seeking to boost business with Gulf countries amid a sales slowdown in their traditional export destinations such as the US and EU.

The garment industry makes up more than 80 percent of the total exports of Bangladesh, the world’s second-largest supplier of clothes after China.

The country’s garment exports reached $42.6 billion during the July 2021-June 2022 fiscal year, with the EU accounting for 60 percent of this amount, and 20 percent going to the US, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.

But amid a political crisis in Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association says sales in these traditional markets have been dropping.

Garment exporters’ association eyes a $2 billion stake in the GCC market.

“We want to concentrate also on the Gulf markets to extend our business,” BGMEA Vice President Shahidullah Azim told Arab News. “The Gulf market is right now captured by China, India, Pakistan. We want to be a part of it.”

Currently, Bangladeshi garment exports to the UAE and Saudi Arabia are worth $228 million and $128 million respectively.

Azim estimated that the South Asian nation could increase exports significantly, expanding also to other countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

“Out of the $11.2 billion apparel market in the GCC market, we can grab $2 billion initially,” he said. “The Gulf is not far from us. We are exporting to the US, European markets. We can reach the Gulf and the (delivery) time will be shorter.”

But before that happens, the industry will need to diversify its portfolio — which has been focused on the production of jeans and shirts — to adjust to demand in the Middle East.

Azim was confident that Bangladeshi producers would be up to the task.

“We have resources, we have capacity built up in our country. We can serve,” he said. “Over the last 30 years, we have built up our capacities. So, whatever continues, we can supply.”

The current market circumstances in the Gulf, where imports have been increasing for the past years, could offer an opportunity to Bangladesh, Dr. Mustafizur Rahman, a distinguished fellow at the Center for Policy Dialogue in Dhaka, told Arab News.

“This will be an increasing market and there will be opportunities for Bangladesh to get into the market, but we need supply-side diversity and we also need to raise our competitiveness,” he said.

As about 2.5 million Bangladeshi expats live and work in Saudi Arabia, and another 700,000 in the UAE, they could in the beginning become the key target market and then help to introduce Bangladeshi products to the region.

“This can be a captive market for us,” Rahman said. “But obviously it will require a lot of effort on the part of Bangladesh as well because the market in the GCC is quite wide-ranging. They import a lot of apparel.”

NEW YORK: Burkina Faso’s coup leader-turned-president defended his military takeover on Friday, though he acknowledged it was “perhaps reprehensible” and inconsistent with the UN’s values. Lt. Col. Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba said the overthrow of the democratically elected president in January was “necessary and indispensable.” “It was, above all, an issue of survival for our nation,” he said. That’s even if it was “perhaps reprehensible in terms of the principles held dear by the United Nations and the international community as a whole.” Burkina Faso’s coup came in the wake of similar takeovers in Mali and in Guinea, heightening fears of a rollback of democracy in West Africa. None of the juntas has committed to a date for new elections. Many in Burkina Faso, however, supported the military takeover, frustrated with the previous government’s inability to stem extremist violence that has killed thousands and displaced at least 2 million. Yet the violence has failed to wane in the months since Lt. Col.  Damiba took over. Earlier this month, he also took over the position of defense minister after dismissing a brigadier general from the post. The Burkina Faso leader said on Friday that his transitional government will remain in power for almost two more years despite calls from West African neighbors for a quicker return to democratic rule. But Lt. Col. Damiba gave no precise date for the holding of new elections in his speech to the UN General Assembly. He warned, however, that the insurgency embroiling Burkina Faso has security risks for the rest of the world too emphasizing that Europe “is the closest continent to Africa.” “No precautions or prevention measures will prevent terrorism from crossing the Atlantic if the Sahel is abandoned,” Damiba said. “Nothing at all will be able to stop the youth in the Sahel countries and its surroundings from giving in to the temptation of perilous immigration to Europe through the Sahara and the Mediterranean if these youth no longer have any hope by staying at home.”

BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday it was terrible that Mahsa Amini, 22, died in police custody in Tehran last week after being arrested for wearing “unsuitable attire.” “I am also saddened by the victims of the Iran protests by courageous women,” Scholz tweeted. “No matter where in the world, women must be able to live in self-determination — without having to fear for their lives.” Protesters across Iran continued to clash violently with security forces following the death of Amini, as Iranian state TV suggested the death toll from the unrest could be as high as 26. Iranian authorities have imposed tough and targeted restrictions on the use of the internet in a bid to impede protesters gathering and prevent images of crackdowns on their demonstrations reaching the outside world, observers say. Activists have expressed alarm that the restrictions, also affecting Instagram which until now has remained unblocked in Iran and is hugely popular, could allow the authorities to carry out repression “under the cover of darkness.” The protests erupted a week ago over the death in Tehran of Mahsa Amini. Internet access monitor Netblocks described the access cuts as the most “severe internet restrictions” in Iran since the deadly crackdown on protests in November 2019, when the country experienced an unprecedented near-complete internet shutdown. It says that mobile data networks have been cut — although there are signs of a return to connectivity — and there have been severe regional restrictions of access to Instagram and WhatsApp. “It’s significantly different to what we saw in November 2019. It’s not as near total and complete as it was back then but more sporadic,” said Mahsa Alimardani, senior Iran researcher for freedom of expression group Article 19.

NEW YORK CITY: “The goal should not simply be giving more food aid. It should be to ensure no aid is needed in the first place,” Bill Gates, the philanthropist and founder of Microsoft, wrote in an essay as his foundation launched a new report on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, published on the sidelines of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly.

The Goalkeepers Initiative was launched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2017 to bring together world leaders to speed up progress toward achieving the SDGs.

The 17 global objectives, set by the UN in 2015, are designed to help eradicate poverty and improve the lives of people worldwide by 2030.

With under eight years left to achieve the goals — which include education, gender equality, clean energy, and eradicating hunger — the Goalkeepers’ report says every indicator of the SDGs is off track.

At the beginning of September, UN Women published a report stating that it would take 286 years to achieve full gender equality in the legal system worldwide. It also stated that 10 percent of women and girls aged 15-49 were subjected to intimate partner violence in the last year.

“The truth is, we were never on track to reach SDG 5 — global gender equality — by 2030,” Melinda Gates wrote in an essay published by the Goalkeepers Initiative.

“Development experts knew this before they even finalized the goals. But today, halfway to our deadline, progress remains slow, even stalling,” she wrote, adding that economic inequality is a major root cause of the lack of progress.

“If you dig beneath the ‘years to gender equality’ metric, you’ll see that economic inequality is one of those root causes. The World Bank reported that the difference in expected lifetime earnings between women and men amounted to $172.3 trillion globally even before the pandemic — twice the size of the world’s annual gross domestic product,” Gates wrote.

While it lays out the challenges facing the achievements of these goals — from the COVID-19 pandemic to the war in Ukraine — the SDG report shines a spotlight on opportunities to accelerate progress by advocating for long-term investment in innovative approaches to entrenched issues such as poverty, inequality, and climate change.

Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation, said the setbacks to the goals can “absolutely be reversed,” using different technologies and tools, particularly in those goals related to gender, climate and food security.

“We don’t have to settle for those trajectories,” Suzman told Arab News during a conversation on the sidelines of UNGA.

He said the report is not only “a message of realism about the state of the world,” given the unprecedented shocks from the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, but is also “a message of optimism.

“The sustainable development goals are commitments made by every government in the world to their own citizens: This is not some kind of vague civil society campaign,” he said.

“This is a formal statement of global shared solidarity, and we have all learned together the hard way of the last few years that we are adding resources, we can dramatically accelerate progress in coming years.”

The report reveals that the current setbacks follow nearly two decades of unprecedented global progress, during which there were annual reductions in extreme poverty, child mortality, and improvements in access to education.

“But now, with the food-security crisis and the inflationary shocks that have been exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine, we've had the first two years of genuine setbacks where some of these trends have gone in reverse,” said Suzman.

“After halving HIV/AIDS incidence and mortality over the last 20 years, we’ve suddenly seen an uptick again. After halving malaria incidence and mortality, we’ve seen an uptick again. We’ve seen many hundreds, or tens of millions, thrown back into extreme poverty. And now we see this massive shock of food insecurity (with) well over 100 million people in food insecurity from Yemen to Afghanistan, to the Horn of Africa.

“And so those are all really not just a call to action, but a demand to action to reverse it,” he said, lamenting the lack of commitment of many countries towards reversing these trends and accelerating the path towards achieving the SDGs.

Action should be taken right now, Suzman said, using “extraordinary tools” — from providing women with digital financial access to the formal system, to the rapid scaling of more productive crops and resistant seeds which are more sustainable amid droughts which cause massive food insecurity.

Such tools could be life-changing for smallholder farmers across South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, two areas that have been most affected by climate change, despite contributing the least to the emission of greenhouse gases.

“If governments and other partners, private sector, and philanthropy were able to respond at the scale that's demanded, we could see those trends shift very quickly,” Suzman said.

The Gates Foundation is bringing “a very major set of commitments” related to climate adaptation — which Suzman calls the “orphan child of the climate discussions” — to the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference, which will be held in Egypt later this year.

The Foundation will urge the world to prioritize long term investments in agriculture and climate adaptation to help meet the needs of the poorest communities, such as soil health, irrigation tools, and extension services for farmers, “because we can and we have the assets available to help generate self-sufficiency in these regions. It’s eminently possible even in the context of climate change.

“That has to happen now. It can’t just be another vacuous promise for resources that come in the abstract one, two, three or five years from now.”

Suzman’s words echo those of Somalia’s Special Envoy for Drought Response Abdirahman Abdishakur, who told Arab News earlier this week that he does not want “to be knocking on doors again in five years’ time or ever.”

Though he is calling for immediate humanitarian assistance to help save lives and prevent drought-driven famine in his country, he is also strongly advocating for long term climate-adaptive solutions for Somali farmers to allow for greater self-sufficiency.

“If we’re only investing $1 billion a year in agricultural research, but $10 billion a year in humanitarian aid, that's the wrong way around,” said Suzman.

The tools, he added, the technology, and the ability to use “more thoughtful” irrigation and fertilizers are available now.

The Lives and Livelihoods Fund, a partnership between the Gates Foundation and the Islamic Development Bank which has Saudi Arabia as a key partner, has invested over $1.4 billion in such tools over the last few years.

It helped develop more resilient domestic rice production in Guinea, which is intended to serve as a model for several countries in West Africa — the world’s largest rice importing region — which Suzman says should be able to grow its own rice.

Elaborating on the Gates Foundation’s work in the Middle East, Suzman said: “We’ve been working, for example, on polio eradication, where Afghanistan and Pakistan are the last few countries that have wide poliovirus endemic, and the current floods in Pakistan are deeply challenging in that regard.”

At the Global Fund to Fight HIV, TB and Malaria’s Seventh Replenishment Conference, hosted by US President Joe Biden in New York on Sept. 21, donors pledged $14.25 billion to end the spread of the three diseases, with “generous contributions” from several of the Gulf states.

“Our primary partnership with the Middle East is helping draw on some of the Middle East’s … technical logical resources and financial resources to help with our work in the Islamic world, and more broadly for some of these global efforts,” Suzman said.