This year, will be 23 years since Tajikistan's 5-year-long civil war came to an end, having claimed between 50,000 and 100,000 lives. This year, the northern district of Mastchoh will host official celebratory events on June 27.
One of Tajikistan’s largest palaces of culture is being built in Buston, the administrative center of the Mastchoh district. This facility with 1,000 seats will be commissioned by January 27 this year.
The head of state, members of government and parliament, public figures and representatives of Tajik Diasporas in foreign countries will participate in celebrations dedicated to the 23rd anniversary of peace accord ending the civil war in Tajikistan, an official source within the Tajik government told Asia-Plus in an interview.
While in Mastchoh, President Emomali Rahmon will inaugurate a number social and economic facilities, held a meeting with regional administrators and get acquainted with achievements of local agrarians and industrialists, the source noted.
In all, 30 new facilities will be commissioned in Mastchoh on the occasion of the 23rd anniversary of peace accord, including a number of five-story residential buildings, a stadium with 10,000 seats and a palace of culture with 1,000 seats.
The estimated budget for construction of the pace of culture is more than 30 million somoni and the estimated budget for construction of the stadium is some 11 million somoni, the source added.
Civil war broke out in the country in May 1992. Half a million people, nearly one-tenth of Tajikistan’s population at the time, had lost their homes. More than 100,000 citizens of the country had fled to Afghanistan.
The United Nations arranged peace talks; appointed a special representative for Tajikistan, Ramiro Piriz-Ballon, to push these talks forward; and created the UN Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UMOT), military observers sent to monitor the warring factions’ compliance — or more often record their noncompliance — in respecting agreements reached at the peace talks.
For the purposes of achieving peace and national accord in Tajikistan and overcoming the consequences of the civil war, inter-Tajik talks on national reconciliation were conducted from April 1994 to 1997 under the auspices of the United Nations.
Protocols that were agreed and signed in the course of eight rounds of talks between delegations of the Government of Tajikistan and the United Tajik Opposition (UTO), six meetings between the President of Tajikistan and the UTO leader, and also three rounds of consultations between the delegations of the sides in Almaty, Ashgabat, Bishkek, Islamabad, Kabul, Mashhad (Iran), Moscow, Tehran and Khusdeh (Afghanistan) constituted the General Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and National Accord in Tajikistan.
