Tajikistani Civil War

Tajik Civil War
Part of the Post-Soviet conflicts

An anti-government rally at Shakhidon Square, Dushanbe in May 1992, at the onset of civil war
Date5 May 1992 – 27 June 1997
(5 years, 1 month, 3 weeks and 1 day)
Location
Tajikistan
Result

Military stalemate

Belligerents

 Tajikistan

 Russia
 Uzbekistan
 Kazakhstan
 Kyrgyzstan

United Tajik Opposition

Islamic State of Afghanistan
Taliban factions1[4]

Supported by:
al-Qaeda[5]
Commanders and leaders
Rahmon Nabiyev
Akbarsho Iskandrov Emomali Rahmon
Islam Karimov
Boris Yeltsin
Nursultan Nazarbayev
Askar Akayev		 Sayid Abdulloh Nuri (UTO)
Mohammed Sharif Himmatzade (IRP)
Ibn al-Khattab
Shadman Youssof (Democratic Party)
Strength
2,000—3,000
5,000–15,000 border troops
Unknown
10,300
278[6]		 Estimated around 10,000–20,000
Casualties and losses
Unknown Unknown
20,000–60,000 killed
40+ journalists killed[7]
1.2 million displaced
1The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which was headed by the Taliban and governed 90% of Afghanistan, officially declared their neutrality in the conflict, though several Taliban factions went on to fight on the side of the opposition nonetheless.[4]

The Tajikistani Civil War (Tajik: Ҷанги шаҳрвандии Тоҷикистон, Jangi şahrvandi'i Tojikiston/Çangi şahrvandiji Toçikiston), also known as the Tajik Civil War, began in May 1992 when regional groups from the Garm and Gorno-Badakhshan regions of Tajikistan rose up against the newly-formed government of President Rahmon Nabiyev, which was dominated by people from the Khujand and Kulob regions. The rebel groups were led by a combination of liberal democratic reformers[8] and Islamists, who would later organize under the banner of the United Tajik Opposition. The government was supported by Russian border guards.[9]

The main zone of conflict was in the country's south, although disturbances occurred nationwide.[10][11] The civil war was at its peak during its first year and dragged on for five years, devastating the country.[10][12] An estimated 20,000[13] to 100,000 people were killed by June 1997[14][15] and about 10 to 20 percent of the population were internally displaced.[9] On 27 June 1997, Tajikistan president Emomali Rahmon, United Tajik Opposition (UTO) leader Sayid Abdulloh 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' in Moscow, Russia, ending the war.[16]

History

Background
Fighting on streets of Dushanbe in February of 1990.
See also: History of Tajikistan

There were numerous prerequisites for civil war in Tajikistan, such as economic hardship, communal way of life of Tajiki people and their high religiousness. Under Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's 'Perestroika' policies, a Muslim-Democratic movement began to emerge in Tajiki SSR. The backbone of opposition were Party of Tajikistan Muslim Resurrection, Democratic party of Tajikistan and some other movements. Fight between former communist elite and opposition shifted from political sphere to ethnic and clan one.

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.

Conflict (1992–93)

Fighting broke out in May 1992 between old-guard supporters of the government and a loosely organized opposition composed of ethnic and regional groups from the Garm and Gorno-Badakhshan areas (the latter were also known as Pamiris). Ideologically, the opposition included democratic liberal reformists and Islamists. The government, on the other hand, was dominated by people from the 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 Kulob 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.[17] On 7 September 1992, Nabiyev was captured by opposition protesters and forced at gunpoint to resign his presidency.[15][18] Chaos and fighting between the opposing factions reigned outside of the capital Dushanbe.

With the aid of the Russian military and Uzbekistan, the Leninabadi-Kulobi 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-Kulobi faction had held the majority of 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 militias from Kulob, from which Rahmonov came.[19][20]

The height of hostilities occurred from 1992–93 and pitted Kulobi militias against an array of groups, including militants from the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRP) and ethnic minority Pamiris from Gorno-Badakhshan. In large part due to the foreign support they received, the Kulobi 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.[21] 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 power base of the IRP and home to many Garmis. Tens of thousands were killed or fled to Afghanistan.[19][20][22][23]

Continued conflict (1993–97)

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.[24]

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 battling Russian troops in the capital city of Dushanbe. Islamic radicals from northern Afghanistan also began to fight Russian troops in the region.

Armistice and aftermath (1997–present)
24 June 2007. Holiday flags on streets of Khujand in honour of 'Day of National Unity', declared work-free holiday in 1998.

A United Nations-sponsored armistice finally ended the war in 1997. This was in part fostered by the Inter-Tajik Dialogue, a Track II diplomacy initiative in which the main players were brought together by international actors, namely the United States and Russia. The peace agreement completely eliminated the Leninabad region (Khujand) from power. Presidential elections were held on November 6, 1999.

The UTO warned in letters to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon 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 Sayid Abdulloh Nuri and Russian President Boris Yeltsin met in the Kremlin in Moscow 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.[25][26]

By the end of the war, Tajikistan was in a state of complete devastation. The number of those killed was estimated at anywhere from 30,000 to as many as 60,000. Around 1.2 million people were refugees inside and outside the country. Tajikistan's physical infrastructure, government services and economy were in disarray and much of the population was surviving on subsistence handouts from international aid organizations. The United Nations established a Mission of Observers in December 1994, maintaining peace negotiations until the warring sides signed a comprehensive peace agreement in 1997.[27]

Targeting of journalists
See also: List of journalists killed in Tajikistan

Journalists were particularly targeted for assassination and dozens of Tajik journalists were killed. Many more fled the country, leading to a brain drain. Notable individuals murdered 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: Yutaka Akino, a noted Japanese scholar of Central Asian history; Maj. Ryszard Szewczyk from Poland; Maj. Adolfo Scharpegge from Uruguay; and Jourajon Mahramov from Tajikistan;[28] and documentary filmmaker Arcady Ruderman.

gollark: I think my phytogenic insolation system almost does that.
gollark: I basically just meant "standard design and location for a common group of cables for in-base systems".
gollark: Have you *seen* the machine room basement?
gollark: It's okay with power and water, which are simple, but AE2's got channels and I'm P2P tunneling.
gollark: We really need to design and apply a sensible cabling standard. I'm tired of fixing the mess of cables I created several days ago.

See also

References
  1. Central Asia's Security: Issues and Implications for U.S. Interests Archived 2006-09-08 at the Wayback Machine CRS Report for Congress
  2. "Tajikistan: President Meets With Popular Front Commanders". Radio Liberty Archives. 9 July 1997. Archived from the original on 12 October 2017. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 27, 2011. Retrieved June 18, 2010.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. Jonson, Lena (25 August 2006). Tajikistan in the New Central Asia. ISBN 9781845112936. Archived from the original on 16 January 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  5. Inside Al Qaeda: global network of terror, by Rohan Gunaratna, pg. 169
  6. "Боевые действия на таджикско-афганской границе (начало 1990-х гг.)".
  7. "Tajikistan's Civil War: A Nightmare The Government Won't Let Its People Forget". Radio Liberty. 23 June 2017. Archived from the original on 23 June 2017. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  8. Дубовицкий, Виктор. Особенности этнической и конфессиональной ситуации в Республике Таджикистан. Февраль 2003 Archived 2008-04-11 at the Wayback Machine
  9. "Tajikistan's Civil War: A Nightmare The Government Won't Let Its People Forget". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Archived from the original on 5 June 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  10. "The Tajik civil war: Causes and dynamics". Conciliation Resources. 30 December 2011. Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  11. Hays, Jeffrey. "TAJIKISTAN CIVIL WAR - Facts and Details". factsanddetails.com. Archived from the original on 5 May 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  12. "Tajikistan's Unconquerable Gorno-Badakhshan Region". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 20 May 2019.
  13. Pannier, Bruce (26 June 2017). "The Many Agents Of Tajikistan's Path To Peace". Radio Liberty. Archived from the original on 3 July 2017. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
  14. Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia, page 8. Ahmed Rashid
  15. Political Construction Sites: Nation-building in Russia and the Post-Soviet States Archived 2016-01-16 at the Wayback Machine, page 76
  16. Tajikistan Civil War Archived 2007-04-14 at the Wayback Machine Global Security
  17. "Department Sozialwissenschaften : Institut für Politische Wissenschaft : Arbeits- und Forschungsstellen : Arbeitsgemeinschaft Kriegsursachenforschung : Kriege-Archiv : ... VMO : 208 Tadschikistan (BK) - Bewaffneter Konflikt in Tadschikistan 1992-1998 und 1998-2001 (Universität Hamburg)". Archived from the original on 2002-11-16. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  18. "Tajikistan - Government". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  19. Between Marx and Muhammad. Dilip Hiro.
  20. The Resurgence of Central Asia. Ahmed Rashid
  21. Human Rights Watch Press Backgrounder on Tajikistan Archived 2010-10-19 at the Wayback Machine Human Rights Watch
  22. Tajikistan: Refugee reintegration and conflict prevention Archived 2007-09-03 at the Wayback Machine Open Society Institute
  23. Human Rights Watch World Report: Tajikistan Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine Human Rights Watch
  24. Ahmed Rashid. Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia. Orient Longman. Hyderabad. 2002.
  25. Tajikistan: Opposition warns it may not sign peace accord Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
  26. Tajikistan: Opposition may not sign peace accord tomorrow Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
  27. Tajikistan: rising from the ashes of civil war Archived 2009-08-18 at the Wayback Machine United Nations
  28. eurasianet.org Archived June 17, 2006, at the Wayback Machine

Further reading
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.