TAJIKISTAN UPDATE.

The government of Tajikistan on August 22 met the demands of opposition field commander Rahmon Sanginov and released three fighters from his detachment who had been seized on August 20. Sanginov in return released three Internal Affairs Ministry troopers whom he had captured in a deadly retaliatory attack on the eastern approaches to Dushanbe. (See Monitor, August 22) The exchange took place on the capital’s outskirts near an area controlled by Sanginov and another opposition detachment.

On August 23, a helicopter carrying Tajik Security Council chief Amirkul Azimov, Opposition chief of staff Dovlat Usmon, and several UN military observers was fired upon and damaged by an unidentified group over the Pamir highlands. The officials were returning to Dushanbe from the opposition-controlled Tavildara area, from which some 200 opposition soldiers are due to move to Dushanbe as security for the opposition’s delegation to the National Reconciliation Commission. (See Monitor, August 22)

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