Tajikistan : A Forgotten Civil War

Tajikistan is currently in the aftermath of a violent civil war in which over 25,000 people were killed and 500,000 people displaced.

Independent from the former Soviet Union since September 1991, Tajikistan is one of the poorest of the former dependent states and remains economically and politically dependent on Russia.

In the Spring of 1992 bloody clashes erupted between supporters of the conservative ex-Communist government and those of the opposition.

By September of that year the fighting had escalated into full-scale civil war.

In September 1994, UN-sponsored negotiations began to seek an end to the violence.

A cease-fire was finally signed in Tehran in June 1994 but the fighting continues and 10% of the population are displaced.

The reasons for the conflict and the current situations for refugees and minority groups in Tajikistan have been little understood by the international community.

Minority Rights Group's new report examines the complex history of this Central Asian republic, analyzes the reasons for the development of the civil war and makes recommendations for essential negotiations between the warring factions.