UN peace-building mission extended

As proposed by the Tajik government and recommended by the UN secretary-general, the UN Security Council has extended the mandate of the United Nation's Tajikistan Office of Peace-Building (UNTOP) by a year until 1 June 2004. "The extension of mandate gives us an opportunity to continue and build on the positive results gained by the activities of the UN's political presence here together with the government of Tajikistan," Vladimir Sotirov, the head of UNTOP and representative in Tajikistan of the UN secretary-general, told IRIN from the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, on Thursday. UNTOP was established after the successful completion of the tenure of the UN Observer Mission to Tajikistan in June 2000. UNTOP's main task is to provide a political framework and leadership for the post-conflict peace-building activities of the UN system in Tajikistan. Following the bitter five-year civil war between government forces and Islamist rebels, the UN in 1997 brokered a general agreement on peace and national reconciliation in Tajikistan. Experts believe that despite challenges the peace process is proceeding successfully. On the basis of a multilateral approach, UNTOP is assisting the nation in implementing programmes for post-conflict peace-building, reconstruction, poverty reduction and good governance. It is also mobilising international assistance in specific fields, such as the rule of law, demobilisation, voluntary surrenders of small arms, and reintegration of former irregular fighters. With more than 80 percent of its 6.2 million population living in poverty, Tajikistan is the poorest of the five central Asian republics. Its economic situation is dire. The average per capita monthly salary is less than US $7, and unemployment is estimated to be over 30 percent. More than a million Tajiks rely on food aid, infant mortality rates are rising, and about 30 percent of children are chronically malnourished. Sotirov said that in addition to such demanding humanitarian and developmental issues, UNTOP remained concerned about the negative consequences of the past conflict in the country. "The transition from Soviet management to pluralistic democracy is also challenging," he said. He added that the proliferation of small arms in the country was still a major worry. "In the past, small arms in the hands of the Tajik population was a major political factor," he said, adding that although the government had claimed to have collected about 23,000 small arms, half that number were believed to have remained in the hands of the population. "This is a potential destabilising factor," Sotirov said. Moreover, despite the prevailing political stability, Sotirov said major challenges such as unemployment and the fight against corruption and narcotics trafficking remained, Tajikistan being a major transit route for drugs produced in neighbouring Afghanistan. He observed that democracy in the country being very young, Tajikistan's future depended on the government's readiness to base its performance on the principles already adopted by the international community. "It also depends on the support of the international community, and Tajikistan needs more attention and more international donor support to sustain peace," he said.