US issues travel warning after terrorism convictions

On 29 May, the United States warned its citizens against travelling to Tajikistan due to a potential threat of armed militants raiding the country. “There have been reports indicating that an incursion by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) into Tajikistan may occur again this year,” the State Department said in a statement. The Afghan-backed IMU threatens to destabilise the region, allegedly in pursuit of the creation of an Islamic caliphate in Central Asia. “Although the political climate has improved, the situation remains unpredictable. American citizens resident in Tajikistan are urged to consider their personal security and safety in view of this warning,” the statement cautioned. It urged Americans to particularly avoid areas along the borders with Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan, the Karategin Valley and Tavildara District. This warning was disseminated several hours after a New York court convicted four men - supporters of the Saudi dissident and international terrorist Usama bin Ladin - on charges of conspiring to kill Americans in the bombing of two US embassies in Africa in 1998. Since the bombings, American employees of the US Embassy in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, have been temporarily resident in the neighbouring Kazakh capital, Alma-Ata, from where they periodically travel to Tajikistan. An official response from authorities in Dushanbe immediately followed the US State Department warning. The secretary of the Security Council of Tajikistan, Amirqul Azimov, told IRIN that the US announcement warning its citizens against travelling to Tajikistan had occasioned regret. According to Azimov, the situation in the country was under the full control of the authorities. “We are for our citizens visiting the United States, and the US citizens coming freely to Tajikistan,” he said. The Tajik official maintained that against a backdrop of expansion of relations with new the US administration, such a warning from the State Department would only cause regret and perplexity. Moreover, during his recent visit to Tajikistan, the Commander-in-Chief of the US Central Command, Tommy Franks, referred to “significant progress” made by Tajikistan over the past eight years in establishing peace and democracy, and deemed it appropriate to expand bilateral relations. Employees of the US Embassy in Dushanbe told IRIN that over the past seven years the State Department had issued similar warnings on a regular basis. Staff have been recommended to avoid eastern areas of Tajikistan, from the Kofarnihon District, 20 km to the east of Dushanbe, up to Garm District, 300 km to the east. As Semyon Grigoryev, political adviser to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission to Tajikistan, told IRIN, employees of the mission have not been ordered to observe the warning issued by the US State Department, and their travels throughout the country have not been curtailed. Meanwhile, some international organisations have been avoiding travel to the Rasht Valley in the Karategin area, which was unstable until last August. In June last year, the chairman of the Garm District, who was formerly one of the leaders of the former United Tajik Opposition (UTO), Sergey Davlatov, was killed there. In early summer last year, members of a unit of the elusive IMU, led by Juma Namangani, were staying in the Tavildara District along the border with Kyrgyzstan, but, after negotiations with a government commission, they left for Afghanistan. In late August, the Tajik government forces launched an operation against the armed group of Mullah Abdullo, a former non-affiliated field commander, who eventually surrendered and returned to civilian life. Tajik officials maintain that since then the situation in this previous pocket of instability has been under government control. In May this year, a new pocket of tension sprang up in the Kofarnihon District, where skirmishes between the former combatants of the UTO and local law enforcement agencies broke out. According to Tajik Interior Minister Khumdin Sharipov, these clashes were sparked by family quarrels, which ultimately resulted in hostage-taking and civilian deaths. Although the Tajik authorities affirm that the situation in Kofarnihon is now under the full control of the government, the United Nations Tajikistan Office of Peace-Building (UNTOP) has expressed concern over the potentially volatile situation in the district. However, the UN Secretary-General’s special representative for Tajikistan, Ivo Petrov, told IRIN that security officers were continuing to visit the area regularly to conduct talks with local residents and former UTO combatants who have been reintegrated into civilian life. Petrov plans to visit the Kofarnihon District within the next few days. UNTOP Political Officer Waldemar Rokoszewski said that the US was not the only country warning its citizens against travelling to Tajikistan. Despite these warnings, experts maintain that the security situation in the country, especially in Dushanbe, has improved over the past two years. The uniformed armed personnel and cars with tinted glass have all but disappeared from the streets of the city. Life in the post-conflict period is nearing normality, although the skirmishes in Kofarnihon in May and the assassination of First Deputy Minister of Interior Habib Sanginov have tarnished the country’s image. The government of Tajikistan and international organisations present in Tajikistan are endeavouring to change that image for the better, though experts predict such a change will be a long time coming.