The latest round of tensions between the two countries began the afternoon of Jan. 5, when Kyrgyz border guards were overseeing the installation of power lines to a newly constructed border post near the village of Charbak near Sox. Uzbek residents of the village of Hoshyar in the Sox enclave reportedly attacked the border guards and then took several hostages, who were later released. The incident prompted the closure of the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border, which has blocked the movement of people and goods between the major southern Kyrgyz cities of Batken and Osh. A state of emergency was declared Jan. 14 in five villages around Sox whose access to basic resources has been blocked by the border closure. Talks on reopening the border have been unsuccessful, and villagers reportedly are building an alternate road around the Sox enclave.