Civil war in Tajikistan
1856611
219094100
2008-06-13T15:18:03Z
207.138.98.253
/* Continued stalemate and peace */
{{Infobox Military Conflict|
|conflict=Civil War in Tajikistan
|image=[[Image:Tajikfighter.jpg|300px]]
|caption=Fighting in Tajikistan
|date=1992–1997
|place=[[Tajikistan]]
|result=[[United Nations]]-sponsored [[armistice]], "comprehensive peace agreement" signed, Rahmonov wins the 1999 Tajik presidential election and IRP is allocated 30% of the ministerial positions.<ref name=RESULT>[http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:kxEamZTFmNEJ:www.ndu.edu/library/docs/crs/crs_rl30294_07jan05.pdf+Central+Asia%27s+Security:+Issues+and+Implications+for+U.S.+interests&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us Central Asia's Security: UR A FAT REIssues and Implications for U.S. Interests] CRS Report for Congress</ref>
|casus=Political struggle between Tajikistan's ruling elite and the opposition.
|combatant1=
*{{flagicon|Tajikistan}} [[Government of Tajikistan]]
*{{flagicon|Russia}} [[Government of Russia]]
*{{flagicon|United States}} [[United States|US forces fighting al-Qaeda]]
*{{flagicon|Tajikistan}} [[People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan]]
*{{flagicon|Tajikistan}} [[Communist Party of Tajikistan]]
*{{flagicon|Tajikistan}} [[Socialist Party (Tajikistan)|Socialist Party of Tajikistan]]
*{{flagicon|Uzbekistan}} [[Government of Uzbekistan]]<ref>''[http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0813337526&id=vT8tCdDpoxkC&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&ots=KVg3j-HtTo&dq=Tajik+Civil+War&sig=4QYE2oPpM25nfD5MBraDREc0ECA#PPA77,M1 Political Construction Sites: Nation-building in Russia and the Post-Soviet States]'', page 77</ref>
|combatant2=
*[[Image:Flag_of_Jihad.svg|22px]] [[United Tajik Opposition]]
*[[Image:Flag_of_Jihad.svg|22px]] [[Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan]]
*{{flagicon|Tajikistan}} [[Democratic Party (Tajikistan)|Democratic Party of Tajikistan]]
*[[Image:Flag_of_Jihad.svg|22px]] [[Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan]]
*[[Image:Flag_of_Jihad.svg|22px]] [[Al-Qaeda]]
*[[Image:Flag of Afghanistan 1992 free.png|22px]] [[United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan |Afghanistan]]
|commander1=[[Emomali Rahmonov]] (President of Tajikistan)
|commander2=[[Said Abdullah Nuri]] (UTO)<br />
[[Mohammed Sharif Himmatzade]] (IRP)<br />
[[Shadman Youssof]] (Democratic party)<br />
[[Juma Namangani]] (IMU)<br />
[[Osama bin Laden]] (Al-Qaeda)<br />
|strength1=
|strength2=
|casualties1=
|casualties2=
|casualties3=50,000 to 100,000 killed, 1.2 million displaced
}}
{{Campaignbox Post-Soviet Conflicts}}
The '''civil war in [[Tajikistan]]''' ([[Tajik language|Tajik]]: '''Ҷанги шаҳрвандии Тоҷикистон''', '''Jangi shahrvandii Tojikiston''') began in May 1992 when ethnic groups from the [[Garm, Tajikistan|Garm]] and [[Gorno-Badakhshan]] regions, which were underrepresented in the ruling elite, rose up against the national government of President [[Emomali Rahmonov]], in which people from the [[Leninabad]] and [[Kulyab]] regions dominated. Politically, the discontented groups were represented by [[liberal]] [[democracy|democratic]] reformists<ref>[http://www.analitika.org/article.php?story=20060307230526550&mode=print Дубовицкий, Виктор. Особенности этнической и конфессиональной ситуации в Республике Таджикистан. Февраль 2003]</ref> and [[Islamists]], who fought together and later organized under the banner of the [[United Tajik Opposition]]. By June 1997 fifty to one hundred thousand people had been killed.<ref>''Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia, page 8''. Ahmed Rashid</ref><ref>''[http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0813337526&id=vT8tCdDpoxkC&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&ots=KVg3j-HtTo&dq=Tajik+Civil+War&sig=4QYE2oPpM25nfD5MBraDREc0ECA Political Construction Sites: Nation-building in Russia and the Post-Soviet States]'', page 76</ref>
President Rahmonov, UTO leader [[Said Abdullah Nuri]], and Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General Gerd Merrem signed the "General Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and National Accord in Tajikistan" and the "Moscow Protocol" on [[27 June]] 1997 in [[Moscow]], [[Russia]], ending the war.<ref name=OVERVIEW>[http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/tajikistan.htm Tajikistan Civil War] Global Security</ref>
==Background==
{{Main|History of Tajikistan}}
Tensions began in the spring of 1992 after opposition members took to the streets in demonstrations against the results of the 1991 presidential election. President [[Rahmon Nabiyev]] and Speaker of the [[Supreme Soviet]] [[Safarali Kenjayev]] orchestrated the dispersal of weapons to pro-government militias while the opposition turned to rebels in Afghanistan for military aid.
Fighting broke out in May 1992 between old guard supporters of the government, backed by [[Moscow]], and a loosely organized opposition composed of ethnic and regional groups from the areas [[Garm, Tajikistan|Garm]] and [[Gorno-Badakhshan]] (the latter were also known as [[Pamiri_people|Pamiris]]). Ideologically, the opposition included [[democracy|democratic]] [[liberal]] reformists and [[Islamists]]. The government, on the other hand, was dominated by people from the [[Leninabad|Leninabadi]] region, which had also made up most of the ruling elite during the entire Soviet period. It was also supported by people from the [[Kulyab]] region, who had held high posts in the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Soviet times. After many clashes, the Leninabadis were forced to accept a compromise and a new coalition government was formed, incorporating members of the opposition and eventually dominated by them.<ref>[http://www.sozialwiss.uni-hamburg.de/publish/Ipw/Akuf/kriege/208bk_tadschikistan.htm Bewaffneter Konflikt in Tadschikistan 1992-1998 und 1998-2001 (Universität Hamburg)]</ref> On [[7 September]] 1992, Nabiyev was captured by opposition protesters and was forced at gunpoint to resign his presidency.<ref>[http://countrystudies.us/tajikistan/37.htm Country Studies. Tajikistan - Government]</ref><ref>''[http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0813337526&id=vT8tCdDpoxkC&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&ots=KVg3j-HtTo&dq=Tajik+Civil+War&sig=4QYE2oPpM25nfD5MBraDREc0ECA Political Construction Sites: Nation-building in Russia and the Post-Soviet States]'', page 76</ref> Chaos and fighting between the opposing factions reigned outside of the capital [[Dushanbe]].
With the aid of the [[Russia]]n military and Uzbekistan, the Leninabadi-Kulyabi Popular Front forces routed the opposition in early and late 1992. The coalition government in the capital was forced to resign. In December 1992, the [[Supreme Soviet]] (parliament), where the Leninabadi-Kulyabi faction had held the majority of the seats all along, convened and elected a new government under the leadership of [[Emomali Rahmonov]], representing a shift in power from the old power based in [[Leninabad]] to the [[militia]]s from [[Kulyab]], from which Rahmonov came.<ref>''Between Marx and Muhammad''. [[Dilip Hiro]].</ref><ref>''The Resurgence of Central Asia''. Ahmed Rashid</ref>
The height of hostilities occurred between 1992 and 1993 and pitted Kulyabi militias against an array of groups, including militants from the [[Islamic Renaissance Party]] (IRP) and ethnic minority Pamiris from [[Gorno-Badakhshan]]. In large part due to the foreign support they received, the Kulyabi militias were able to soundly defeat opposition forces and went on what has been described by [[Human Rights Watch]] as an [[ethnic cleansing]] campaign against Pamiris and [[Garmis]].<ref name=HRW>[http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/eca/tajikbkg1005.htm Human Rights Watch Press Backgrounder on Tajikistan] Human Rights Watch</ref> The campaign was concentrated in areas south of the capital and included the murder of prominent individuals, mass killings, the burning of villages, and the expulsion of the Pamiri and Garmi population into Afghanistan. The violence was particularly concentrated in [[Qurghonteppa]], the powerbase of the IRP and home to many Garmis. Tens of thousands were killed or fled to Afghanistan.<ref name=OSI>[http://www.osi.hu/fmp/html/Tajik_one.html Tajikistan: Refugee reintegration and conflict prevention] Open Society Institute</ref><ref name=HRWREPORT>[http://www.hrw.org/reports/1994/WR94/Helsinki-20.htm Human Rights Watch World Report: Tajikistan] Human Rights Watch</ref><ref>''Between Marx and Muhammad''. [[Dilip Hiro]].</ref><ref>''The Resurgence of Central Asia''. Ahmed Rashid</ref>
==Opposition reorganizes==
In Afghanistan the opposition reorganized and rearmed with the aid of the [[Jamiat-i-Islami]]. The group's leader [[Ahmad Shah Masoud]] became a benefactor of the Tajik opposition. Later in the war the opposition organized under an umbrella group called the [[United Tajik Opposition]], or UTO. Elements of the UTO, especially in the [[Tavildara]] region, became the [[Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan]], while the leadership of the UTO was opposed to the formation of the organization.<ref name=Rashid2>[[Ahmed Rashid]]. ''Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia''. [[Longman|Orient Longman]]. [[Hyderabad (India)|Hyderabad]]. [[2002]].</ref>
==Continued stalemate and peace==
Other combatants and armed bands that flourished in this civil chaos simply reflected the breakdown of central authority rather than loyalty to a political faction. In response to the violence the [[United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan]] was deployed. Most fighting in the early part of the war occurred in the southern part of the country, but by 1996 the rebels were combating Russian troops in the capital city of [[Dushanbe]]. Islamic radicals from northern [[Afghanistan]] also began to fight Russian troops in the region. A [[United Nations|UN]]-sponsored [[armistice]] finally ended the war in 1997. The peace agreement completely eliminated Leninabad region (Khujand) from power. Peaceful elections were held in 1999.{{Fact|date=March 2007}}
The UTO warned in letters to [[United Nations Secretary General]] [[Kofi Annan]] and Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov on [[23 June]] 1997 that it would not sign the proposed peace agreement on June 27 if prisoner exchanges and the allocation of jobs in the coalition government were not outlined in the agreement. [[Akbar Turajonzoda]], second-in-command of the UTO, repeated this warning on [[26 June]], but said both sides were negotiating. President Rahmonov, UTO leader [[Said Abdullah Nuri]], and Russian President [[Boris Yeltsin]] met in the [[Kremlin]] in [[Moscow]], [[Russia]] on 26 June to finish negotiating the peace agreement. The Tajik government had previously pushed for settling these issues after the two sides signed the agreement, with the posts in the coalition government decided by a joint commission for national reconciliation and prisoner exchanges by a future set of negotiations. Russian Foreign Minister [[Yevgeny Primakov]] met with the Foreign Ministers of Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to discuss the proposed peace accord.<ref name=LETTERS>[http://www.rferl.org/features/1997/06/n.ru.970623155536.asp Tajikistan: Opposition warns it may not sign peace accord] RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty</ref><ref name=DOUBTS>[http://www.rferl.org/features/1997/06/n.ru.970626153108.asp Tajikistan: Opposition may not sign peace accord tomorrow] RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty</ref>
By the end of the war Tajikistan was in a state of complete devastation. The estimated dead numbered from 50,000 to as many as 100,000. Around 1.2 million people were refugees inside and outside of the country. Tajikistan's physical infrastructure, government services, and economy were in disarray and much of the population was surviving on subsistence hand outs from international aid organizations. The [[United Nations]] established a [[United Nations Mission of Observers of Tajikistan|Mission of Observers]] in December 1994, maintaining peace negotiations until the warring sides signed a comprehensive peace agreement in 1997.<ref name=TOLL>[http://www.un.org/events/tenstories_2006/story.asp?storyID=600 Tajikistan: rising from the ashes of civil war] United Nations</ref>
Journalists were particularly targeted for assassination and dozens of Tajik journalists died. Many more fled the country leading to a [[brain drain]]. Notable individuals killed include journalist and politician [[Otakhon Latifi]], journalist and Jewish leader [[Meirkhaim Gavrielov]], politician [[Safarali Kenjayev]], and four members of the [[United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan]], including [[Yutaka Akino]], a noted [[Japan]]ese scholar of Central Asian history{{Fact|date=March 2007}}, and documentary filmmaker [[Arcady Ruderman]].
==See also==
*[[List of journalists killed in Tajikistan]]
==Further reading==
*Monica Whitlock. ''Land Beyond the River: The Untold Story of Central Asia'', St. Martin's Press, 2003, ISBN 031227727X
*Shahram Akbarzadeh. ''Why did nationalism fail in Tajikistan?'', [[Europe-Asia Studies]], 1996.
*Mohammad-Reza Djalili, Frédéric Grare, and Shirin Akiner. ''Tajikistan: The Trials of Independence'', St. Martin's Press, Richmond, UK: Curzon, 1997.
*Roy, Olivier. ''The New Central Asia, the Creation of Nations''. London: I. B. Tauris, 2000.
*Rashid, Ahmed. "Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia." London: Yale University Press, 2002
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*{{ru icon}}/{{en icon}} [http://www.c-r.org/our-work/accord/tajikistan/contents.php Key texts and agreements in the Tajikistan peace process]
*[http://www.rferl.org/features/1997/01/n.ru.970108185241.asp Tajikistan: Opposition criticizes Dushanbe's plan for Commission]
*[http://www.rferl.org/features/1997/01/n.ru.970103173453.asp Tajikistan: Two Russian military personnel killed]
*[http://www.rferl.org/features/2003/12/02122003171834.asp Tajikistan: Secular -- not Shari'a -- law prevails in eastern mountains]
*[http://www.onwar.com/aced/data/tango/tajik1992b.htm Tajikistan Civil War 1992-1994]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1992]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1993]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1994]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1995]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1996]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1997]]
[[Category:Civil wars involving the states and peoples of Asia]]
[[Category:Civil wars of the Modern era]]
[[Category:Religion-based civil wars]]
[[Category:History of Tajikistan]]
[[bg:Гражданска война в Таджикистан]]
[[de:Geschichte Tadschikistans]]
[[ru:Гражданская война в Таджикистане]]
[[tg:Ҷанги шаҳрвандии Тоҷикистон]]