US DEPARTMENT OF STATE
office of the SpokesmanMay 29, 1997
STATEMENT BY JOHN DINGER, ACTING SPOKESMAN
The State Department welcomes the news of a significant step forward in Tajikistan's United Nations-meditaed peace process represented by the May 28 signing of a Protocol on Implementation Guarantees for the Peace Accord. Agreement on this text is the last step in a three-year UN-sponsored peace negotiations process that now paves the way for the formal signing of the final peace accord by Tajikistan's President Rahmonov and United Tajik opposition leader Nuri, which is planned to take place in Moscow on June 14.
We urge the negotiating sides, and the whole Tajik nation, to take full advantage of this opportunity to move beyond its civil conflict, as it is only the Tajik sides themselves that can fulfill implementation of the accords. We look forward to the formal signing of peace accords in June which will mark the formal beginning of the transition period.