Tajikistan

First allow me to congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the crucial post of President of the General Assembly and to wish you success in guiding the work of this important forum. The example of Tajikistan clearly demonstrates the fruitfulness of close cooperation between the United Nations and regional organizations in peacekeeping activities and highlights the need for the international community to implement a coordinated strategy to support the efforts of the Government and people of a country to resolve crises, overcome instability and find ways to achieve lasting peace, national reconciliation and prosperity. We welcome the key role played by the United Nations in coordinating this multifaceted work. I would like once again to express my profound gratitude to all Members of the General Assembly and the Security Council and to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, for their growing and multifaceted support for the peace process in Tajikistan and for their overall unflagging attention to our problems, which, regrettably, remain acute. We commend the efforts of all States and international organizations that are acting as guarantors of the General Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and National Accord in Tajikistan signed on 27 June last year in Moscow and reached with the assistance of the United Nations. During the almost five years they were stationed on the territory of Tajikistan, the collective peacekeeping forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States, by their presence and practical actions, helped stabilize the situation in our country and helped us continue to pursue the complex inter-Tajik political dialogue. This has led to the implementation of the historic agreements that resulted from these talks. We express our deep appreciation to all our friends — countries and international organizations, and in particular United Nations agencies — that empathize with the people of Tajikistan in their hardships and are trying to help them overcome them as soon as possible. While paying due tribute to the United Nations for its contribution to the strengthening of peace and national reconciliation in Tajikistan, we are fully aware that the primary responsibility for restoring peaceful life in our country and for the future of our motherland lies with the leadership of the Republic of Tajikistan and with the Tajik opposition. 19 We believe that the peace process in Tajikistan, though arduous, is becoming more established and is moving towards national accord. This is born out by the fact that the work of the Commission on National Reconciliation has definitely entered a constructive phase. The majority of refugees and displaced persons have returned home. The process of reintegrating the United Tajik Opposition armed formations into the Government military structures has begun. The majority of the participants in the military and political resistance movement have been granted amnesty and released from prison. All prisoners of war have been released. Virtually all the leaders of the Opposition forces have returned to the country and are living and working in Dushanbe. Representatives of the Opposition have been appointed to a number of important Government posts. A process is under way to bring the nation’s laws up to date with the new needs of political life in Tajikistan. A number of other serious measures have also been implemented. Guided by the vital aspirations of the people and recognizing that there is no viable alternative to full and timely implementation of the Tajikistan General Agreement, the country’s leadership is determined to continue to do all it can to ensure speedy implementation of all the provisions of the General Agreement. We are grateful for the empathy for our problems shown by the former Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Tajikistan, Mr. Gerd Dietrich Merrem, who completed his work in May this year. We are prepared to build on this positive experience of cooperation in our relations with his successor, Mr. Jan Kubisz. Tajikistan has great respect for the United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT) and for all its staff. These brave and noble people are serving a lofty goal under difficult conditions and are making a valuable contribution to the attainment of national accord and the establishment of peace and tranquillity in our country. The Government of the Republic of Tajikistan reaffirms its desire to continue to closely cooperate with the United Nations in implementing the peace accords and in the post-conflict reconstruction of the country. We have taken decisive action to prevent excesses similar to the tragic death this past July of four UNMOT officers, and to provide better security for all personnel of international organizations present in Tajikistan. While in no way diminishing the United Nations obvious achievements in organizing collective international responses to crisis situations in various regions of the world, we feel obliged to draw attention once again to the dangerous, protracted Afghan conflict, which remains unresolved. We have particular reason for highlighting this problem — above all because we feel profound sympathy for the continuing sufferings of the fraternal people of Afghanistan. Moreover, we, together with our nearest neighbours and Russia, are very seriously concerned about the dangers posed by the situation in Afghanistan, which threatens to destabilize the entire Central Asian region; to lead to a massive and spontaneous exodus of Afghan refugees across the border into Tajikistan; and to spread terrorism, arms and drugs. We are especially alarmed about the threat of the proliferation of religious extremism, and are joining forces with Russia and Uzbekistan to counter it. Since the inter-Tajik reconciliation process has not been completed, all these factors are impacting very negatively on the situation in our country. As the history of Afghanistan shows, the use of force by any internal or external actors not only is incapable of solving the problems of Afghan society, but is fraught with the danger of a new escalation of civil war in that country. In this context, we cannot but feel alarmed at developments in Afghanistan, in particular the open disregard for the efforts of the international community to find a political solution to the conflict and for the Afghan people’s desire to preserve the integrity of their State. We, together with the other members of the Almaty Five, are closely following developments in the Islamic State of Afghanistan. Tajikistan fully supports the United Nations playing a central role in coordinating all international efforts to find an Afghan settlement. As a member of the group of neighbours and friends of Afghanistan, the Six plus Two group, we are firm in our opposition to any external interference in the affairs of Afghanistan, including interference in the form of sending military personnel and arms to that country. The Republic of Tajikistan notes the important role played by the United Nations in disarmament and in a whole range of problems related to strengthening non- proliferation regimes with regard to weapons of mass destruction, particularly nuclear weapons. In this context, we are joining the initiative of our neighbours to create a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central Asia. We believe the establishment of such a nuclear-free zone requires, first and foremost, action on the part of prospective parties to that treaty. We need to consider such questions as the 20 definitive geographical configuration of this zone; the substance and range of guarantees granted to the parties by the nuclear Powers; how to deal with any transporting of nuclear weapons through such a zone; verification measures; and other matters. Our position on the establishment of a nuclear- weapon-free zone in Central Asia cannot overlook the fact that India and Pakistan have conducted nuclear tests. We fully support the urgent appeal of the Security Council to India and Pakistan to accede to the Treaty on the Non- Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. We believe that both these countries — along with the overwhelming majority of members of the international community — must choose the path of preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The evolution of the world economy today is characterized by increasing globalization and liberalization. This is reflected in the growing interdependence and greater openness of national economies and of commodity and financial markets — a development that is beginning to have both positive and negative impacts. We share the view that, in addition to national efforts to increase their economic and social potential, developing countries and those in transition need the consolidated support of the international community, including that of the United Nations and other multilateral institutions. Above all, we have in mind two things: first, the creation of favourable international conditions so as to provide open access to markets, as well as to financial resources and modern technology; secondly, assistance in overcoming poverty, protecting the environment, implementing economic reforms and enhancing the competitiveness of national enterprises. Unless we resolve these problems, it will be impossible to fully integrate countries in transition into the world economy. For Tajikistan those matters are all the more relevant given that our country has many outstanding problems caused by the prolonged period of military confrontation, as well as challenges directly related to its peaceful settlement. They include the humanitarian needs of rather large and vulnerable segments of the country’s population — needs for food, medicine and health care. Vital infrastructure, in particular for water supply and sanitation, needs to be rehabilitated. And, finally, assistance is needed to help refugees and displaced persons return home, and to demobilize and reintegrate the Tajik Opposition fighters into civilian life. The leadership of Tajikistan is doing all it can to deal with the country’s humanitarian crisis caused by the internal conflict, to rebuild the basic elements of the national economy and to make progress in transforming it into a socially oriented market economy. However, these efforts will be insufficient without the assistance of many countries and international organizations, including the humanitarian agencies of the United Nations system and the charitable funds. In this regard, we note in particular the work of the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Tajikistan, who is responsible for coordinating international aid to Tajikistan for its post- conflict reconstruction and further sustainable development. We hope that at this fifty-third session there will be broad support for a resolution that fully reflects Tajikistan’s needs at this difficult stage in its development, including the tasks related to implementation of the General Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and National Accord in our country. We have gratefully acknowledged the consolidated appeal drawn up by United Nations agencies to meet the humanitarian needs of the Tajik people for 1998. This appeal clearly defined the priorities and set the minimum amount of external aid required. We would be grateful to donors if, reflecting the spirit of support for the peace process in Tajikistan expressed at the Vienna meeting of donors in October last year and at the Paris conference held in May this year, they would meet the goals of this appeal. We attach great importance to continuing our cooperation with institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which are seeking to provide assistance during the post-conflict reconstruction and development of the Tajik economy. We hope that in the near future this cooperation will further expand. Tajikistan consistently supports various United Nations efforts to protect the environment. As a predominantly mountainous country, Tajikistan sees particular relevance in increasing the attention paid by the international community to the preservation of biological diversity and natural mountain ecosystems. In this connection, we actively supported the proposal of the Kyrgyz Republic to declare the year 2000 the 21 International Year of the Mountain. We were one of the co- sponsors of the relevant draft resolution, which we hope will be adopted by consensus at this session. We are inspired and encouraged by the growing interest of the United Nations in helping to solve the environmental problems faced by our country and other countries of Central Asia. In our view, one of the most serious ecological challenges posed not only to Tajikistan but to almost all the countries of the region is to eliminate the potential threat of the major natural disasters that could occur if no effective action is taken to normalize the situation in the area of Lake Sarez, which lies 3,263 metres above sea level and contains 17 billion tonnes of water. This poses a grave danger not only for the people of Tajikistan but also for neighbouring Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, which could sustain serious damage in the event of a breakage of the natural dam that was formed at the beginning of this century as a result of an earthquake. We count on our renewed cooperation with the United Nations for help in dealing with this problem in a comprehensive manner. Among the many problems on the United Nations agenda, we would like to stress the issue of combating the drug menace, whose deleterious impact, unfortunately, has not bypassed our country. We fully support the coordinating role of the United Nations in the mobilization of the international community’s efforts in this area. We note the usefulness and timeliness of the convening in June this year of the special session of the General Assembly devoted to this issue. Tajikistan, together with its closest neighbours, is taking active steps to halt illicit drug trafficking. It is broadening its cooperation with the United Nations International Drug Control Programme. As is well known to those who have observed the situation in one of our neighbouring countries, “narcodollars” create fertile soil for terrorism and illicit drugs and arms trafficking. We view terrorism in all its forms and manifestations as a grave crime against humanity. The Government of the Republic of Tajikistan vigorously condemns the acts of violence that have been committed recently in certain countries. We call upon the United Nations and its Members to declare merciless and uncompromising war on terrorism all over the world. Tajikistan supports the steps being taken by the Secretary-General to reform the entire United Nations system to enable it to serve better in a new environment, and to deal with different issues without undermining the foundation of its activities. This point must be taken into account when dealing with expansion of the membership of the Security Council, so that this important body can continue effectively and expeditiously to discharge its primary responsibility under the United Nations Charter: the maintenance of international peace and security. We are confident that the joint efforts of Members to reform the Organization will lead to a renewal which will preserve its universal character and its ability to adequately meet current and future challenges.