TAJIKISTAN ROUNDUP.

Tajikistan’s National Reconciliation Commission (NRC), which was officially inaugurated in Dushanbe on September 15, has yet to begin the actual work of implementing the peace agreements signed in Moscow on June 28. The government side has insisted on postponing the redistribution of government and administrative posts stipulated under the Moscow formula, which gave the opposition a 30 percent share of those posts. The government’s chief representative on the NRC, parliament vice-chairman Abdulmajid Dostiev, yesterday named "disarmament of unlawful armed units" — a term that apparently covers opposition forces — as a precondition for the redistribution of government posts. Opposition representative Abdunabi Sattorzoda yesterday called for discussions on disarmament in parallel with changes in the government and with preparations for parliamentary elections.

The NRC has set up four subcommissions and one working group to handle, respectively: political affairs, legal issues, military problems, refugees, and the exchange of military and civilian prisoners and detainees. Only two of the five panels have agreed on an agenda. The exchange of prisoners and detainees, which was to have begun after June 28, has stalled despite unilateral steps taken by the opposition to release some groups of military prisoners. The government is dragging its feet on the release of nearly 400 political detainees.

In Dushanbe, meanwhile, 13 small bombs have exploded on downtown streets over the past 10 days, leaving some wounded but not resulting in any fatalities. Yesterday’s blast damaged the offices of the state news agency Hovar. (Russian agencies, September 23-25)

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