In Central Asia, a crisis is brewing over water and electricity. The Soviet-era system in which the five countries of the region shared their resources has broken down, leaving some facing water shortages and others chronic power cuts. Instances of small-scale unrest have already occurred, but some warn this could be just the beginning.
On a freezing night in January 2009 a catastrophic power cut plunged swathes of the Tajik capital Dushanbe into darkness.
At one of the city’s maternity hospitals back-up generators failed and vital breathing equipment shut down, leaving doctors battling to keep two newborn baby girls alive.
Saymuddin Dustov, father of one of the girls, Pariso, frantically rang around friends to find an alternative power source.
For two hours, as his friends struggled to drag a 200kg (31-stone) generator up five flights of stairs in pitch darkness, Dustov sat in a cold, candlelit ward watching his daughter struggling to breathe.
The potential for disagreements always existed – but disputes were always resolved by Moscow
Rasul Jumali, Kazakh political scientist
“I could see that she just didn’t have enough strength to keep going,” he […]
