BISHKEK — About 50 Tajik students and members of Kyrgyzstan’s Tajik Association picketed the Uzbek Embassy in Bishkek today to demand the full resumption of rail traffic between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service reports.

According to the protesters, hundreds of tons of humanitarian aid intended for the victims of recent landslides and floods in Tajikistan are held up at the Uzbek-Tajik border as the Uzbek authorities refuse to allow cross-border rail traffic.

The protesters handed a petition to an Uzbek Embassy official.

Uzbekistan has described the rail delays as technical, but Dushanbe has accused Tashkent of deliberately blocking the shipments.

http://www.rferl.org/content/Tajiks_In_Bishkek_Picket_Uzbek_Embassy_Demand_Resumption_Of_Rail_Traffi