Tajikistan time to reflect.

• Author: Taylor, Russell

It has been just over five years since a peace accord in 1997 put an end to the bloody civil war in Tajikistan and during that time, positive, albeit halting, steps have been taken in the country's transition to civil order and democracy. And the transition remains vulnerable.

While a fifth anniversary of peace is something to cheer, it is also a time to reflect on the terrible price the war exacted and to redouble efforts to establish a firm rule of law and a culture of pluralism. In a visit to Dushanbe on 21 October, Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the 63 members of the new Tajik Parliament that they should continue to work for the establishment of the rule of law. "Popular trust in the judiciary", he said, "and the fairness of the authorities is the best safeguard against extremism and renewed violence." For a society to deal with fundamental questions, such as the rule of law and pluralism, it has to pay heed to the voices of all of its members and engage all of them, including women, in formulating solutions, he stressed.

In an earlier message to the international conference in commemoration of the anniversary, held in Tajikistan in June 2002, Mr. Annan said that the most important factor in ending the conflict had been the political commitment of the parties to stop the devastation and to begin a process of national reconciliation. That commitment was tested through more than three years of complex negotiations, ultimately producing the politically difficult but necessary compromises that made possible the signing of the General Peace Agreement in Moscow on 27 June 1997.

Tajikistan's independence in September 1991 began relatively peacefully but was all too quickly followed by a civil war and armed insurgency. By mid-1993, in a country of less than 6 million, an estimated 50,000 people had been killed, 600,000 displaced internally and an additional 60,000 made refugees in northern Afghanistan. Still more had fled to the neighbouring Central Asian republics and other countries of the former Soviet Union.

The United Nations first active response to the situation in Tajikistan was in the fall of 1992, with the dispatch of a fact-finding mission led by the Secretary-General's envoy Raymond Sommereyns--Director in the Department of Political Affairs. Mr. Sommereyns told the Chronicle that the mission's report had recommended that the Secretary-General continue his goodwill efforts and "be supportive of local and regional efforts". The...