From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Fri Oct 06 2000 - 09:52:59 EDT
Tajik head calls for international aid for displaced Afghan population
Text of report by the Tajik news agency Asia-Plus on 5th October
Tajik President Emomali Rahmonov held a meeting today, 5th October, which
was attended by the heads of the republic's power-wielding and
law-enforcement ministries and departments.
The Asia-Plus news agency learned from the presidential press centre that
the meeting discussed a wide range of burning topics dealing with the
activity of the aforementioned agencies. President Emomali Rahmonov
officially heard the third reading of the report by Tajik
Prosecutor-General Bobojon Bobokhonov on the practial implementation of his
May [2000] decrees strictly prohibiting servicemen from taking weapons and
military equipment outside their military units and abolishing contract
military service.
During discussion of this issue it emerged that there are still some
so-called "bottlenecks" in this field.
President Emomali Rahmonov demanded that these be removed and that his May
decree and other decrees be fulfilled unconditionally and in full. He
emphasized that today not only the state of law and order and legality in
society, but also the climate of Tajikistan's investment cooperation with
other foreign countries and with international financial and credit
organizations depended to a great degree on the effective and conscientious
work of the state's power-wielding agencies.
The head of state drew attention to the need for work on combatting very
serious forms of crimes, including illicit drug trafficking, to be ongoing.
Particular emphasis was laid at the meeting on the work of border guards on
the Tajik-Afghan border due to the escalation of military and political
tension in Districts bordering Afghanistan.
President Rahmonov heard a report on this from the chairman of the State
Border Protection Committee under the government of Tajikistan, Saidanvar
Kamolov. President Rahmonov set a number of specific tasks to ensure the
readiness of the frontier guards and local bodies of state government in
Districts bordering on Afghanistan in order to eliminate possible negative
consequences of the acute deterioration in the humanitarian situation in
the north of the Islamic State of Afghanistan. President Rahmonov
emphasized that the complicated humanitarian situation in Afghanistan was
swiftly being transformed into a humanitarian catastrophe with all the
ensuing consequences.
The situation is aggravated by the fact that the winter is approaching. The
head of state therefore once again appealed to the international community
to render emergency humanitarian assistance to the afflicted Afghan
population. Tajikistan is ready to assist in every possible way the
carrying out of humanitarian activities to help the Afghan people.
President Rahmonov called on the warring Afghan sides to halt hostilities
and to embark upon a path of peaceful settlement of the [Afghan] crisis by
setting up a multi-ethnic and broad-based government in their
civil-war-tormented country.
Source: Asia-Plus news agency, Dushanbe, in Russian 0922 gmt 05 Oct 00
BBC Mon CAU 051000/** va/sk
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