The year in review-Tajikistan

TAJIKISTAN

REACHING A LASTING PEACE
Prepared by the Peace and Security Section,
United Nations Department of Public Information

In the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan, high mountains add to the difficulty of bringing together political factions. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, "this became a society in which people worked out their differences by feuding and blood-letting," said the Secretary-General's representative in Tajikistan, Ivo Petrov, and head of the United Nations Tajikistan Office of Peace-building (UNTOP). "Now people are trying to find other ways. They have a will for peace. My job is to strengthen this will and to convince as many people as possible that peace is beneficial for them."

That is no easy task. "For one thing," explains Petrov, "some of the former combatants have not disarmed and after the peace agreement, they have continued to roam the country, extorting money from the civilian population. Under those circumstances it's hard to get people to submit to the rule of law." Together with UNDP, Petrov's peace-building support office is helping with job training for the former combatants, but the peace-building office doesn't have the mandate and resources to address the socio-economic causes of these and other problems.

Petrov worked closely with United Nations agencies in Tajikistan and the World Bank in preparing for a donor meeting in May 2001 during which international donors pledged more than $400 million for the government plus more than $4 million for the UN agencies. In terms of peace-building, the agencies have focused on finding employment for ex-combatants and building institutions that Tajiks can trust.

But institution building takes time, and in the meanwhile, suspicions between the government and the opposition arise. "My responsibility as the Secretary General's representative is to keep channels of communication open," says Petrov. "I make sure the players do not overreact and keep playing the game of politics without taking up arms again."

His methods are often ad hoc and creative. For example, with the national association of Tajik political scientists he devised a series of public forums called "political discussion clubs" that have taken place in various parts of the country. "The forums have been an opportunity for leaders from different parts of the society to meet, sometimes for the first time," said Petrov. "It is a way for them to begin to figure out how they are really going to work together."

Observers say that Petrov supplies "political lubricant". They note that he has enormous understanding of the political complexity of Tajikistan and the political instincts to know what does and does not help. As Petrov explains it: "I'm constantly on the lookout for the weak links in the chain."

Those weak links are many. Economically the country is struggling to make the transition to a market economy from the centralized economy of the Soviet era. Despite massive disarmament efforts, many Tajik civilians have been reluctant to part with their kalashnikovs. "You can't blame them," says Petrov. "Security is a big problem. The police are unable to protect all the citizens. Criminals and political murderers sometimes go unpunished."

According to Petrov, there were many issues unresolved when the UN peacekeeping operation was here, and they are still not resolved today. What happens elsewhere in the region also influences Tajikistan. The porous Tajik-Afghan border has long been a cause of Tajikistan's instability. War in Afghanistan, as well as other events in the region, has enormous implications. "But," says Petrov, "there are reasons to be hopeful that we will be able to reach a lasting peace."