Tajikistan civil war (1992-1997) Research Paper

Tajikistan civil war (1992-1997) - Research Paper Example Ethnic groups: Tajik 80%, Uzbek 15%, Russian and others 5%.Religion (2010 Embassy est.): Sunni Muslim 95%, Shi'a Muslim 3%, other 2%. Language: Tajik (the official state language as of 1994, with follow-up legislation in 2009); Russian is widely used in government and business; 74% of the population lives in rural communities where mostly Tajik is spoken. Education: Literacy (according to the Tajikistan Living Standards Survey for 2007)--97.4%. The Tajik education system has been struggling through a period of decline since independence, however, and some evidence suggests functional literacy is much lower. Health (2010 est.): Life expectancy--62.29 years men; 68.52 years women. Infant mortality rate--41.03 deaths/1,000 live births. Work force (2010): The official work force is 2.1 million. The actual number of working age citizens is closer to 4 million. As many as half of all working age males, and an increasing number of females, seek jobs outside of the country, primarily in Russ ia. The Republic of Tajikistan gained its independence during the breakup of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) on September 9, 1991 and soon fell into a civil war. From 1992 to 1997 internal fighting ensued between old-guard regionally based ruling elites and disenfranchised regions, democratic liberal reformists, and Islamists loosely organized in a United Tajik Opposition (UTO). 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. The height of hostilities occurred between 1992 and 1993. By 1997, the predominantly Kulyabi-led Tajik Government and the UTO had negotiated a power-sharing peace accord and implemented it by 2000. Once guaranteed 30% of government positions, former oppositionists have almost entirely been removed from government as President Rahmon has consolidated power. The last Russian border guards protecting Tajikistan's 1,344 km border w ith Afghanistan completed their withdrawal in July 2005. Russia maintains its military presence in Tajikistan with the basing of the Russian 201st Motorized Rifle Division that never left Tajikistan when it became independent. Most of these Russian-led forces, however, are local Tajik noncommissioned officers and soldiers. Tajikistan's most recent parliamentary elections in 2010 and its 2006 presidential election were considered to be flawed and unfair but peaceful. The parliamentary elections, in which the ruling party secured 55 of the 63 seats, failed to meet many key Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) standards on democratic elections, and some observers saw them as even worse than the flawed 2005 elections. In June 2003, Tajikistan held a flawed referendum to enact a package of constitutional changes, including a provision to allow President Rahmon the possibility of re-election to up to two additional 7-year terms after his term expired in 2006.† Civil War Brief Summary of The Conflict After the civil war in 1992, sporadic fighting continued in remote areas. The road to peace in Tajikistan has been long and tedious. (Tajikistan Civil War), â€Å"The process of national reconciliation in this impoverished Central Asian country was set in motion by a June 1997 UN-mediated settlement between Tajikistan's Moscow-backed government and the