The United Nations Mission of Observer in Tajikistan was initiated in December 1994 and expired in May 2000. The main aim of United Nations was to focus on the peacekeeping mission to maintain peace after Tajikistan’s Civil War. The observers were deployed in Tajikistan to promote peace and demobilization. International and national observers promoted peace by monitoring peace activities and initiating negotiations between opposing parties. The headquarters of the mission were located in Dushanbe, Tajikistan with an aim to monitor peace between the ruling government and the United Tajikistan opposition. The paper highlights three major drawbacks of United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan.
Despite the fact that Tajikistan was surrounded by several other political issues, United Nations tried to put in all efforts to propagate peace throughout the country. In total, 40 observers increased to 81 in the number who became part of the mission. In January 1995, total observers present in the state were 55 out of whom 22 were military observers, 11 were international civilian staff, and 22 were local staff. The Security Council that managed to implement the peace process initiated Tehran Agreement. As a result of Tehran Agreement in 1994, the United Nations made an attempt to seek an immediate ceasefire. With the temporary ceasefire agreement, additional 15 observers arrived on 20th October 1994 to observe human rights in the country. However, there were issues that forced the United Nations to abandon the mission entirely.
Security Issues for Observers
Observers who were sent to the country faced serious problems that were one of many reasons that contributed to the failure of the mission. One of many drawbacks of UNMOT was the murder of members that added to the security concerns for other observers present in the country. Observers in Tajikistan were constantly exposed to threats from terrorists. Without proper security measures, it became difficult for observers to move freely in the country. Also, the loss of seven personnel’s made it difficult for observers to stay in the country. Due to mission activities, the UNMOT was also responsible for job creation projects, but meager security measures caused it difficult for United Nations to continue the mission. The constant threat of getting affected by insurgent activities also contributed to the security issues. In summation, security issues faced by observers were the absence of resources required to provide observers secure environment to carry out their activities.
Observers present in the country dealt with regional challenges and hostile environment. International observers were not welcome by the locals and other forces that led to security issues as well. Additionally, local observers faced security issues such as their families were in constant danger. Other than losing life threats, the free movement of observers was also highly insecure. Either international or local, observers could not move without security guards in the country. The absence of enough security personnel, it became difficult for observers to carry out their activities to implement peace process. Civilian observers lacked basic training to protect themselves from threats given by the local public. Terrorists as well as a major chunk of the ignorant public did not approve the presence of international forces in the country and threatened observers (Abdullaev & Akbarzaheh, 2010).
Reportedly, seven fatalities occurred which became a reason for United Nations to abort the mission. Four major observers of the mission were murdered on 20th July 1998 in central Tajikistan that led to the retraction of the mission by United Nations.
Lack of adequate force protection and effective equipment caused the loss of seven personnel that showed the severity of security issues that were faced by observers in the country. Unavailability of security for observers was the main driving force that caused United Nations to discontinue the mission. Despite tensions and rivalries between opposition parties, the UNMOT served as an important catalyst in implementing peace process within the state. The peace process of Tajikistan was maintained by nation building that was based on national reconciliation, and United Nations played a crucial role in promoting peace within the state. Apart from peace agreement implementation motive of United Nations, there were fears of Tajikistan’s civil war transcending to neighboring states and affecting those states.
However, the ceasefire agreement collapsed after the entrance of UTO fighters in Tajikistan, which led the government to request the intervention of United Nations Security Council to handle the situation. Additional 120 members of military observers were sent to strengthen the already present team. Tajikistan relied on Security Council and the international community for stabilization and post-conflict peace building. In September 1997, UN Security Council decided to extend the two-month renewal of mission but did not consider the increase in the number of forces due to lack of resources and security threats (United Nations: Security Council, United Nations, 2006).
The expansion of forces was denied because of the security concern of already present personnel who were threatened by local bandits. However, in December 1997 Security Council expanded the forces to meet the increasing demand of the local government. The expansion of forces did not entirely solve the issues rather increased security concerns of observers present in Tajikistan. Security concerns served as major highlight while sending out observers to different areas of Tajikistan to communicate peace process.
Insufficient Funds
Another challenge of UNMOT was insufficient funds for the humanitarian plan. Obstacles and limitations such as insufficient availability of funds also created issues for United Nations to carry out the mission. The financial aspect of the UNMOT that lacked voluntary funds to back up operations was a major drawback. The UNMOT’s activities such as demobilization of fighters and elections were dependent on the funds that were allocated to the mission. However, the voluntary contributions were a minimum that limited the funds and caused problems for the UNMOT to carry out its activities. The national government failed to raise enough funds to carry out peace activities in the country. Also, United Nations failed to collect funds at the international level to carry out UNMOT activities (Abdullaev & Akbarzaheh, 2010).
Contributors were reluctant to contribute funds due to the uncertainty involved in the peace process. Other than its drawbacks including insufficient security of observers, incomplete control of UNMOT, and lack of financial ground, the UNMOT was considered to be a successful implementation of the peace process in Tajikistan. Due to the successful implementation of the peace process, the extension of the UNMOT mandate was proposed to continue the peace agreements in Tajikistan.
The UN Security Council organized a donor conference for Tajikistan to raise $65 million funds for political reconciliation and democratization programs but managed to collect only $40 million. United Nations convinced member states to contribute funds that would be used for UNMOT activities. United Nations could not raise the expected amount of funds to carry out the activities such as sending observers to different areas of Tajikistan to settle the issues and check the level of peace in the particular region of the country (Abdullaev & Akbarzaheh, 2010). From a local perspective, with increasing terrorist activities along with the rise in an insurgency, there was a need for an international force to maintain the peace conditions. The UNMOT was successful to some extent but with drawbacks such as financial constraints caused major problems.
Lack of Control of UNMOT
Even after ceasefire implementation, UTO fighters and terrorist activities contributed to the instability and insecurity that questioned the credibility of UNMOT. The major drawback from national and international perspectives was the questionable control of UNMOT over Tajikistan. Despite the presence of UNMOT in Tajikistan, elections held were not fair, and observers failed to communicate the peace mandate. At 53rd General Assembly, member states agreed to fund the military, civilian, and local components of the mission to expand UNMOT. Member states wanted to manage the humanitarian process in Tajikistan. Also, some of the steps taken by UNMOT caused problems too. In the process of expelling UTO officers from Dushanbe, 20 soldiers were killed which questioned the presence of Observers in Tajikistan (Koops, Koops, MacQueen, Tardy, & Williams, 2015).
Despite the presence of United Nations through UNMOT, there were clashes between opposition parties that increased the tensions. The slow pace of the peace process along with attempts of violations of ceasefire caused problems for Tajikistan as well as United Nations. With increasing concerns regarding the peace process, UN General Assembly renewed the mandate of UNMOT till 1998, but the issues remained the same. The cause of problems at the national level was the presence of terrorists that observers and United Nations failed to eliminate completely from Tajikistan. Also, the drawback of UNMOT was the absence of control over many problems that were faced by the country such as drug trafficking and armed elements present in the country.
The situation raised questions regarding the inability of the UNMOT to exercise control in the war-torn country. However, UNMOT did face challenges and limitations such as severely flawed parliamentary and presidential elections. On 27th February 2000, elections were held in Tajikistan, and no serious incident was reported during the whole process due to presence of the UNMOT. However, elections failed to meet minimum standards, and high rate of proxy voting indicated the inability of the UNMOT present in the country. Despite the presence of the UNMOT, mission failed to propagate peace beyond borders. Terrorist activities continued to increase at international borders. Terrorists from Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan continued to threaten the war-torn country. Despite reconciliation, ruling government and opposition parties continued to have differences. The political process had been difficult as well to accept the UNMOT. The UNMOT failed to have complete control over the country.
Conclusion
The insecurity, lack of control, and shortage of funds led to the failure of UNMOT. However, the local government considers the initiative of UNMOT to be a successful attempt at promoting the peace process. For instance, war activities were reduced due to the presence of observers, but the mission failed to end the war situation. The head of Tajikistan declared it a successful attempt of the peace process in the final meeting on UNMOT that was headed by Security Council.
References
Abdullaev, K., & Akbarzaheh, S. (2010). Historical dictionary of Tajikistan. Lanham: Scarecrow Press.
Koops, J., Koops, J. A., MacQueen, N., Tardy, T., & Williams, P. D. (2015). The Oxford handbook of United Nations peacekeeping operations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
United Nations: Security Council, United Nations. (2006). Security council, supplement for April, May and June 1997. New York: United Nations Publications.
