id: 111457
date: 6/8/2007 12:48
refid: 07DUSHANBE855
origin: Embassy Dushanbe
classification: UNCLASSIFIED
destination: 07STATE75287
header:
VZCZCXRO9825
RR RUEHLN RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #0855 1591248
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 081248Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0412
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 2116
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 2150
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 2117
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1456
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 1974
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 2132
—————— header ends —————-
UNCLAS DUSHANBE 000855
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, OES
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, ENRG, SENV, TI
SUBJECT: TAJIKISTAN SUPPORTS PRESIDENT BUSH’S CLIMATE INITIATIVE
REF: STATE 75287
1. Rustam Latipov, Tajikistan’s
Deputy Minister for Agriculture
and Environmental Protection and the leading government official
responsible for environmental issues, expressed support for
President Bush’s new international framework initiative on
climate change. PolOff delivered
points per reftel to Latipov
June 7 and Latipov assured PolOff that the Tajik government
would support President Bush’s initiative. Latipov said that
the government will draft a letter of support to be delivered
through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
2. Backing the Tajik government’s
enthusiasm to develop a coal
industry in Tajikistan, Latipov pointed out that deforestation
is a big problem for Tajikistan.
In a country desperate for
energy and electricity, villagers are forced to cut down trees
to heat their homes. In turn,
fewer trees means that less
carbon dioxide emissions can be absorbed. Latipov said that the
Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection will lobby
the government to invest in clean coal technology and replant
trees around the coal mining areas.
3. Latipov called melting
glaciers the most significant climate
change problem for Tajikistan.
With little industry and cars
per capita, Tajikistan lags far behind other countries in
greenhouse gas emissions.
However, climate change has affected
the country’s rural villages and threatens the pristine glaciers
of the country’s famed Pamir Mountains.
According to media
reports, the glaciers are receding at a rate of 20 meters per
year and temperatures in the Pamirs have increased at one and a
half degrees in the past ten years.
Ilhomjon Rajabov, of
Tajikistan’s Agency for Hydrometeorology, stated in media
reports that the country’s ice cover will decrease by 20 percent
by 2050.
4. Even though at this time,
water may be abundant in
Tajikistan, excess water poses severe threats. Floods create
problems year after year, washing away homes, destroying
agriculture and lives. Higher
temperatures and melting ice also
create landslides or mudslides which are not only destructive,
but contaminate the water sources, carrying diseases straight to
the people and livestock, the majority of whom do not have
access to clean water.
5. At this point in time,
Tajikistan has an abundance of water.
However in the future, if
temperatures continue to rise and the
glaciers disappear, that means the water supply will diminish.
Climate change in Tajikistan will also have a regional impact
because Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan depend on the Pamir glaciers
as a water source for drinking, irrigation and energy
generation.
HUSHEK
=======================CABLE ENDS============================
id: 111536
date: 6/10/2007 7:45
refid: 07DUSHANBE860
origin: Embassy Dushanbe
classification: UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
destination:
header:
VZCZCXRO0738
RR RUEHLN RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #0860/01 1610745
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 100745Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0420
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 2117
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 2118
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1958
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 2152
RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR 0019
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 2141
—————— header ends —————-
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 000860
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON, ETRD, PGOV, EAID, TI, AF
SUBJECT: AFGHANS IN TAJIKISTAN — READY FOR BUSINESS
DUSHANBE 00000860 001.2 OF 002
1. (SBU) Summary: While a common perception amongst Tajik
officials and academics is that the Afghans are all poor, coming
from a war-torn country with little education and healthcare,
Afghan businessmen are surprisingly successful and growing
wealthy in Tajikistan, and they have an equally dim view of
Tajiks. Indeed, according to
Afghan businessmen in Dushanbe,
all the Tajik government needs to do to promote cross-border
trade is stop being corrupt, open the border, and get out of
their way. End Summary.
Afghans Dominate Wholesale Food
—————————————
2. (SBU) According to Dr. Ata Mohammad Ghaznawi, Commercial
Attache of the Afghanistan embassy (and successful businessman
in his own right), the Tajiks, «would not be able to eat without
the Afghans.» According to
Ghaznawi, besides the roughly 2000
small Afghan businesses (legal and illegal), there are about one
hundred Afghan wholesalers that dominate approximately 75
percent of imported foodstuffs throughout Tajikistan. A brief
tour of the Afghan warehouses in downtown Dushanbe, re-stocked
daily from larger warehouses outside the city, showed vast
supplies of vegetable oils, rice, and sugar from Dubai, wheat
from Kazakhstan, and tea, cookies, candies, soaps, and
detergents from Iran. Tajik
middlemen buy their goods from the
Afghan wholesalers around 4:00 AM, and then sell them to small
retail traders in kiosks at local bazaars.
3. (SBU) Besides food and some dry goods, there is a robust
trade in contraband cigarettes from Dubai, Pakistan via
Afghanistan to Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and
Kazakhstan. According to Dr.
Ghaznawi, about 50,000 cartons of
cigarettes a month pass through Tajikistan’s contraband markets.
Corruption and Diplomatic Fall-out
——————————————
4. (SBU) Afghan success seems to be resented and exploited by
various levels of the Dushanbe city government. The Afghan
wholesalers settled in Tajikistan during the late Soviet Union
and early 1990s and concentrated their businesses near a
multi-story shopping complex called Sadbarq (now often called
the «Afghan bazaar»).
Sadbarq has often been a bone of
contention with the Dushanbe city government. Afghan
businessmen made a deal in the 1990s where they could use the
market after they refurbished it.
After it was remodeled, the
city tried to take it back and it is still unclear who
technically owns it.
5. (SBU) While Tajik women run the kiosks in Sadbarq, the kiosks
and their goods belong to Afghans.
A 2001 car bomb near the
bazaar was believed to be connected to a commercial dispute with
an Afghan, and the city government tried to evict many of the
traders and move them to a remote outdoor bazaar on the
outskirts of the city the same year.
Since then, Afghan
wholesalers have complained of regular shake-downs by the
police. (Post will report septel
on recent round-ups of Afghan
refugees and asylum seekers, many of them picked up from the
Afghan dominated markets.)
6. (SBU) These shake-downs almost threatened Tajik-Afghan
relations two years ago. By the
time Dr. Ghaznawi arrived as
Commercial Attache in Dushanbe in 2005, extortions took place on
a weekly basis. Ghaznawi
recounted one particularly grizzly
tale which involved a Dushanbe police officer holding a
tazer-gun to an Afghan wholesaler’s genitals until the Afghan
paid out $8,000 to the policeman.
Dr. Ghaznawi claims that he
personally threatened the Tajik Minister of Interior that he
would close the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan and
tell President Rahmon publicly how Afghan businessmen are abused
if the Minister did not find a way to stop the weekly extortion.
The next week, according to
Ghaznawi, the policeman returned
the money to the Afghan wholesaler, apologized, and such
large-scale extortions with impunity have declined.
Why Tajik Wholesale Traders Are Less Successful in Tajikistan
——————————————— —————
————————————
7. (SBU) In discussing the difference in Tajik and Afghan
traders with Ghaznawi, his deputy trade attache at the Afghan
embassy Rangebar Samay, and later with two Afghan traders, they
seemed to regard the Tajiks’ minimal role in the wholesale
market almost as a moral failing.
Despite the long civil war in
Afghanistan, they claim the Afghans are still capable of
trusting each other. The informal
hawala banking system works
DUSHANBE 00000860 002.2 OF 002
quickly and efficiently with little more than someone’s good
word and a phone call to a designated country to deliver the
promised money, according to the Afghans. The Tajiks, according
to Ghaznawi, lack trust and know that they are unreliable even
to each other. «They are
neither communist, nor Muslim, but
something in between.» Lack
of trust and ambiguous moral values
have made Tajik society unable to function properly and impede
business, he said. The main
difference between Afghans and
Tajiks, according to Ghaznawi and Samay, is that Afghans
understand risk and how to take care of themselves
independently. «War is risk
and business is risk — this is
life.»
8. (SBU) Moreover, according to Ghaznawi, Tajiks and Afghans
differ in sales strategies as well. He explained that an Afghan
will only mark up the price of a product by 20%, but hope to
sell a lot of them. A Tajik,
however, will take the same good
and mark up the price by 80%, but only sell a few of them. It
was generally agreed among the Afghans that Tajik businesses are
greedy, do not know how to deal in large volumes, and lack
management skills. (Comment: Post’s observations support the
lack of capacity and ability to handle supply chains or volume.
End comment.)
Outstanding Problems with Tajikistan Government
——————————————— —————
————-
9. (SBU) The commercial attache and his deputy both bemoaned
that Tajikistan was not more accommodating to Afghan investors
and businessmen. Afghans were not
included on the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs’ recently approved list of nations allowed to
receive visas without invitations at the Dushanbe airport. It
chagrined them that they were the most important traders in
Tajikistan to meet the Tajik population’s daily needs and yet
they were not welcome. Moreover,
getting a Tajik visa in Kunduz
and Kabul not only takes a long time, it costs $200-$300 more
than the $60 official rate, even after they show their official
status as businessmen with business licenses, business
passports, and proof they paid business taxes in Afghanistan.
Once Afghan businessmen arrive in Dushanbe, registration costs
$35 per month. More than twenty
Afghan companies have been
waiting over a year to register at the Ministry of Justice, and
have received no explanation for the delay. They were not too
concerned about Tajik regulations on imports by «Gosstandart»
or
the lack of a transit agreement between Tajikistan and Pakistan
and its implications for transit in Afghanistan, since «a
hundred dollars at the border will fix that.»
Brief Biography of Dr. Ata Mohammad Ghaznawi
——————————————— —————
——-
10. (SBU) After high school in Afghanistan, Ghaznawi joined the
Soviet-backed Afghan army and got a scholarship to obtain a
Ph.D. in economics in Moscow. He
met his future wife at the
same university. He moved to
Tajikistan in 1988, opened his
first business in 1990 with $300 of jeans and goods from
Thailand and Dubai. Over the next
couple of years he traded
jeans for aluminum ingots from TadAZ (now Talco), among other
barter transactions, and made a fortune — so much that he has
an outstanding business dispute with a Tajik office supply
company on Rudaki for $7 million dating back to 1991 that has
yet to be resolved. (Comment:
That’s a lot of jeans and
aluminum. End Comment.)
11. (SBU) By 1992, when the Tajik civil war started, he moved
his family to Almaty, Kazakhstan. He gained refugee status in
the Netherlands and lived there four years, while keeping his
businesses running in Tajikistan and Kazakhstan, and then
finally moved to the United States when his company had a
contract with the Pentagon. He
received a green card in 2001.
He said he feels that he has two nationalities — Afghan and
American — and what he likes most about America is having human
rights, the freedom to have a business, and protection from the
law. Still, as an Afghan from a war torn country, he claims that
he fears nothing. He is also
opening a 240-room hotel in Kabul
called the Sultan Palace Hotel in a few months.
HUSHEK
=======================CABLE ENDS============================
id: 111591
date: 6/11/2007 8:13
refid: 07DUSHANBE862
origin: Embassy Dushanbe
classification: UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
destination:
header:
VZCZCXRO1134
RR RUEHLN RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #0862/01 1620813
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 110813Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0423
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 2119
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 2120
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1960
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 2154
RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR 0021
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 2144
—————— header ends —————-
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 000862
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON, PGOV, ETRD, EAID, TI
SUBJECT: LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH
AND TAJIK
DUSHANBE 00000862 001.2 OF 002
1. (SBU) Summary: A recent meeting with recipients of European
Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) small and medium
sized enterprise loans shed new light on the obstacles facing
small businesses in Dushanbe.
Interviews with the owners of
furniture, clothing, and household linens stores revealed not
only the parasitic and predatory relationship of government
toward small businesses both on a national and city level, but a
glimpse at how Tajikistan’s elite live. End Summary.
2. (SBU) The owner of a furniture store on Dushanbe’s main
artery, Rudaki, openly confided that she daily lived in fear and
paid off officials. When asked if
she had problems with customs
or tax inspectors, she implied that she bribed them and was,
«simply thankful to make some money and live a stable life with
a stable income for her family.»
Tired of making $5 dollars a
month as a teacher with a degree as candidate of sciences, she
went into business. Her son works
as a doctor in Moscow and her
daughter is an interpreter for Mitsubishi making $8,000 a month
in Moscow. A quick look at her
store and merchandise makes it
clear she does not live hand to mouth.
She says the only reason
she asked for a $50,000 loan for her furniture store was because
she was forced to dip into her working capital when she ran over
budget building a $340,000 vacation cottage for her grandson in
the mountains outside Dushanbe.
If anything, she belongs to
Tajikistan’s small middle class. Her business constraints and
choices demonstrate just how suffocating the businesses
environment is even for those closer to the elite.
3. (SBU) Real estate woes: After being stymied in her attempts
to build a three-story show room for her furniture store, she
was given verbal permission by Dushanbe Mayor Obaidulloev in a
quick and hushed meeting in his office to build a small show
room behind the converted apartment she uses as a store. In a
mere 52 days she whipped together a bright room with
track-lighting to store and display tens of thousands of dollars
of furniture. (Note: As of 2002, any attempt to build or remodel
any structure in Tajikistan has to be approved by the government
committee on architecture and construction — and companies are
levied a fee ranging from two to 15 percent of the proposed
construction budget. End Note.)
The furniture store owner
believes that she was ultimately allowed to have her showroom
because the President’s daughter likes her furniture and may
have influenced the mayor.
4. (SBU) The furniture sold in her store comes entirely from
China, purchased directly in China or via Dubai, and delivered
by train. Roughly 95% of it
(excluding the leopard print
high-heeled shoe-chairs with red cushions) was some sort of
ornate hybrid of synthetic velvets, brocades, and satins with
plastic Rococo swirls and crenellations slapped onto shiny wood
veneer to give them an 18th century European Louis XIV effect.
(Comment: Jean Paul Sartre considered spending all of eternity
in a room with such furniture part of his vision of hell in «No
Exit.» End Comment.)
5. (SBU) The furniture store owner often decorates the homes of
Tajikistan’s elite. They come to her with room measurements,
leaf through her catalogs, and special-order whatever furniture
fancies them. Pointing to a white
swirly settee with gold and
rouge satin and brocade cushions purchased for $4900 from China,
the owner bemoaned that while she could sell it for $6000 in her
store, the president’s daughter sometimes comes by and takes
pieces like this for $2000.
Indeed, many elites take furniture
and slowly pay back in small increments, while some stop paying
entirely. She does not charge
interest and has no recourse if
they default. She would not dream
of going to the courts
because that «would be very bad for them,» and thus ultimately
bad for her. «Only God will
judge them,» she sighed.
6. (SBU) The furniture store owner does not have a credit card,
nor does she have a savings account in a bank. When she wants
to buy tens of thousands of dollars of furniture from China, she
calls in orders from Dushanbe and uses a money wiring service
that is not a bank to send the money to China. A trusted person
in China delivers that money to three separate furniture
companies to complete the transaction.
The fact that money in
such large volumes is not sent via banks highlights the gross
inadequacies of Tajikistan’s banking sector when even successful
legitimate businesses choose neither to save their money in them
nor use their services.
7. (SBU) The owner of clothing and linen stores also admitted to
paying customs and tax inspection bribes, but equivocated that
DUSHANBE 00000862 002.2 OF 002
such unpleasant things happen in many places all over the world.
Like the furniture store owner,
her philosophy towards
corruption is to pay for the problem to go away. She also has a
higher education, and used to teach at a university, but needed
to make more money. She started
off with a small store at the
bazaar and through small-enterprise loans has gradually grown to
own three stores in the center of Dushanbe and employ six
people. Her son is a lawyer for
the National Bank and her
family seems to be comfortably ensconced in the middle class.
She did not name her landlord, but conveyed that he was a
government official who managed his affairs through an
intermediary. Moreover, the
landlord recently raised the rent
from $1500 to $1700.
8. (SBU) Her clothes and linens
mainly originate from Turkey.
The clothes arrive via air cargo after she personally selects
them abroad (and not just shuttle trade via suitcases), but the
linens come by truck since they are not subject to changing
fashion whims. Her $70,000 loan
and three-year line of credit
through the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
lending program (partially supported by USAID) partnered with a
local bank will help her import Italian shoes. Shoes have to be
ordered and paid for six months in advance and this requirement
has forced her to change the way she uses her working capital.
Like the furniture store owner, she does not have a continuous
savings account, but seems to use a savings account on a short
term basis. When she travels
abroad to make her orders, she
briefly deposits money so that she can use a debit card to cover
transactions.
9. (SBU) Comment: While we have often heard of the troubles of
micro-enterprises trying to get by in bazaars, these interviews
highlight that even larger more successful businesses face a
similar problem with government corruption and a weak banking
system. Their preference to just pay for their problems to go
away and disinclination to organize or fight against wrongs,
however, demonstrate that the business community remains
atomized and weak at the small and medium enterprise level. End
Comment.
HUSHEK
=======================CABLE ENDS============================
id: 111770
date: 6/12/2007 12:43
refid: 07DUSHANBE877
origin: Embassy Dushanbe
classification: UNCLASSIFIED
destination: 07DUSHANBE860|07DUSHANBE877
header:
VZCZCXRO2495
PP RUEHLN RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #0877/01 1631243
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 121243Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0438
INFO RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMFIUU/DIA FT BELVOIR
RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 2121
RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR PRIORITY 0023
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD PRIORITY 2156
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 2122
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0042
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 2161
—————— header ends —————-
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 000877
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREF, PREL, PGOV, PHUM, UNHCR, TI, AF
SUBJECT: TAJIKISTAN TO AFGHAN REFUGEES:
YOU CAN STAY, JUST NOT HERE~
OR HERE
REF: DUSHANBE 860
DUSHANBE 00000877 001.2 OF 002
1. SUMMARY: On May 31, Tajik security officials rounded
up
over 150 Afghan refugees and asylum seekers in the capital of
Dushanbe. Reports from those
detained suggest that authorities
held the refugees for most of the day without food, water or
access to sanitation facilities.
The authorities released the
refugees only after they signed an affidavit that they would
leave the capital within three days if single or ten days if a
family. Refugee reports suggest
that many signed these
statements under duress or did not fully understand what they
were signing. END SUMMARY.
2. In 2000, the government of
Tajikistan adopted two
resolutions, numbers 325 and 328, which prohibit asylum seekers
and refugees from residing in urban areas (and specifically bar
residence in Dushanbe and Khujand).
The Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Tajikistan has
been involved in an ongoing dialogue with the government of
Tajikistan on this subject, arguing that the resolutions violate
Article 26 of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees. According to Article
26, refugees should be afforded
the same residency rights as other aliens, however resolutions
325 and 328 apply only to asylum seekers and refugees. UNHCR
further argues that the resolutions are not retroactive, and, as
most Afghan refugees settled in Dushanbe before their adoption,
not applicable in the majority of cases.
3. UNHCR reports that on May 31,
security forces raided several
markets in Dushanbe, detaining up to 180 Afghans, including
those in possession of UNHCR letters and at least one minor, a
15 year-old boy. According to
Indira Beganovic, a Protection
Officer at UNHCR Tajikistan, it is possible that not all of
those detained were refugees, though most certainly were (UNHCR
used the number 150 in its Note Verbale dated June 5).
According to Beganovic, UNHCR took over 50 statements from
refugees, and all were concerned about the orders to move out of
Dushanbe. They have jobs in
Dushanbe, undergo medical
treatment, their children attend local schools and they extend
their documents every six months with authorities in the city.
[NOTE: The short (maximum
six-month) periods for which Tajik
authorities issue refugee documents is another bone of
contention between UNHCR and the government of Tajikistan. END
NOTE.] Forced resettlement into
the countryside, without access
to existing family and social support networks and agencies such
as UNHCR, could prove a significant hardship in some cases;
«catastrophic,» according to Beganovic, in others. Refugees
also worry that those who do not relocate out of Dushanbe would
face deportations. So far UNHCR
staff have told us they do not
consider the current action a violation of the principle of
non-refoulement.
4. ConOff discussed the situation
with both Beganovic at UNHCR
and Aziz Ahmad Barez, the Afghan Consul to Tajikistan, June 7.
Both Beganovic and Barez stated that they had received further,
unconfirmed, reports that round-ups had continued that day, one
week after the original detentions.
Barez said that he had
heard that more Afghan traders had been detained at the Sadbarg
Market (or «Afghan Market» reftel), while Beganovic said that
she had received three phone calls from refugees who had been
visited at their residences.
According to Beganovic, not only
did those detained on May 31 have to sign an affidavit swearing
to leave Dushanbe, they were forced to provide their current
addresses as well.
5. Further complicating matters
is the difficulty in locating
the person or persons behind the actions of May 31. Many of
those detained reported overhearing that the Dushanbe city
administration (the mayor’s office) ordered the round-up, citing
the fact that authorities used city detention facilities as
evidence. If true, this would add
a new wrinkle to the refugee
problem in Tajikistan, as such matters are supposed to be dealt
with solely by the central government.
Barez and Beganovic,
however, suggested that it was more likely the State Committee
on National Security who organized the detentions. [NOTE:
Both
Barez and Beganovic urged ConOff to have the Embassy raise the
issue with any contacts it had in the State Committee on
National Security, as they themselves had none. END NOTE.]
Beganovic said that conversations with contacts at the Ministry
of Internal Affairs and Ministry of Labor suggest that neither
had any prior knowledge of the detentions, and that the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, in response to a diplomatic note from UNHCR,
responded that they have requested an explanation from the State
Committee on National Security.
DUSHANBE 00000877 002.2 OF 002
6. COMMENT: The raids and detentions of May 31 paint a
disturbing picture of the direction that the situation
surrounding Afghan refugees in Tajikistan is heading. UNHCR’s
immediate concern is to stop the current campaign, the first of
its kind, but the lack of a coordinated and durable solution to
the refugee question in Tajikistan is alarming. Post has
received other reports that the detentions, as they focused
primarily on those Afghans working in the local markets, may be
related to jealousies arising from the relative success of the
Afghan traders (see Reftel).
Regardless, the law upon which
Tajik authorities based the actions of May 31 contradicts
international norms. END COMMENT.
JACOBSON
=======================CABLE ENDS============================
id: 111853
date: 6/13/2007 6:20
refid: 07DUSHANBE882
origin: Embassy Dushanbe
classification: UNCLASSIFIED
destination: 07DUSHANBE882
header:
VZCZCXRO3493
RR RUEHLN RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #0882/01 1640620
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 130620Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0440
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 2123
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 2158
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 2124
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1457
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 1975
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 2170
—————— header ends —————-
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 000882
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KDEM, KWMN, TI
SUBJECT: TAJIK WOMEN LEADERS FRUSTRATED BY CULTURAL ATTITUDES AMONG
WOMEN
DUSHANBE 00000882 001.2 OF 002
1. SUMMARY: Leaders of Tajikistan’s political parties
discussed how women are marginalized in politics and the
frustrations they share trying to empower women, at a roundtable
with PolOff June 4. All pointed
out that Tajik cultural norms
are oppressive to women, but sometimes it’s the women themselves
who uphold the traditional female roles in a male-dominated
society. END SUMMARY.
2. Of Tajikistan’s eight
registered political parties, none are
led by women and only two have institutionalized leadership
positions for women. Two parties,
the Social Democratic Party
and the Socialist Party, could not identify women leaders to
participate in the roundtable.
Soliha Ahmadova, Head of the
Women’s Department of President Rahmon’s People’s Democratic
Party and Tahmina Qayyumova, head of the party’s young women’s
department attended the roundtable.
The Head of the Women’s
Department for the Islamic Renaissance Party, Zurafo Rahmoni,
and Mahbuba Fayzulloeva, daughter of the late chairman Said
Abdullo Nuri, represented the party; Mamlakat Joyjieva attended
from the Democratic Party of Tajikistan.
WOMEN IN GOVERNMENT, OR NOT, AS THE CASE MAY BE
3. President Rahmon issued a
decree in 1999, aimed at
empowering women in Tajik society, which ordered all government
offices including ministries, local governments, and state
universities to employ at least one woman in a deputy level
position. The government also
established the Committee on
Women’s Affairs in 1991 and in 2002 the Department on Gender
Equality, both reporting to the president’s office. «Main
Directions of the State Policies for Ensuring Equal Rights and
Opportunities for Men and Women in Tajikistan 2001-2010» serves
as an action plan to pursue gender equality. As a result of
these government initiatives, women now fill 17 percent of
government positions, are elected officials in each district
government, and comprise 90 percent of school principals. The
second of two deputy prime ministers is a woman as is the
Minister of Health, and 11 women serve as elected national
parliamentarians. Roundtable
participants agree that the
president’s initiative has made an impact, but more
opportunities for women to play a prominent role in governing
and shaping Tajikistan’s future are needed. They point out that
many proposals in the action plan have not been implemented and
although the government’s quotas have meant that more women can
obtain positions in government, most of those positions are
appointed, not elected.
4. The mindset of women
themselves proves one of the biggest
hindrances to achieving gender equality and providing more
workplace opportunities for women.
Roundtable participants
expressed strong disappointment when they told PolOff that the
female parliamentarians themselves argue that a woman’s role and
responsibilities are at home. The
women leaders at the
roundtable described the most difficult part of their job as
breaking down the cultural stereotypes that women hold of
themselves. Many Tajik women they
encounter still believe that
politics is «the business of men.»
5. Roundtable participants
complained that the government and
political parties’ push for more female participation during the
November 2006 presidential election was merely lip service. In
order for more women to participate in politics or run in
elections, real legislative reform needs to be implemented that
creates a more open political playing field for all interested
participants. The representatives
of the political parties say
that the fees are often too high for women. Rahmoni proposed
one partial solution to the Islamic Renaissance Party leadership
— i.e., that the party should assist women who choose to run for
an elected position.
TAJIKISTAN’S ECONOMIC WOES PUT WOMEN IN UNTRADITIONAL ROLES,
WITH NO SUPPORT
6. All the women around the table
nodded their heads when
Zurafo Rahmoni of the Islamic Renaissance party said that «Women
are shackled by economic problems in Tajikistan.» With anywhere
between 600,000 to one million Tajik men serving as labor
migrants abroad, Tajikistan faces a complicated social dynamic.
In some villages the men’s departure has led to positive
developments such as women take a greater role in business,
working at the bazaars, or filling vacant positions in local
government. However, labor
migration also means that many women
are left destitute because some migrants do not send money home
to their families and the women have to fend for themselves,
DUSHANBE 00000882 002.2 OF 002
while still occupying an inferior position in their communities.
The woman bears the burden of
being the breadwinner while also
keeping house. Unfortunately, the
gender gap in education means
that most women in rural villages are under-educated with little
skills to obtain the high-paying jobs — and few jobs available
for them.
EDUCATION FOR ALL
7. The representatives from the
People’s Democratic Party of
Tajikistan (President Rahmon’s party) disagreed with the other
political parties on the Ministry of Education’s edict against
the hijab and defended the party line that girls should not be
allowed to wear inappropriate dress to school; but all
participants agreed that women’s education should not be impeded
by debates on dress. Although the
Tajik government insists that
all pupils are mandated to attend school, in practice, this is
not the case and more boys attend schools than girls. Anecdotal
evidence suggests drop-out rates for girls are higher than for
boys, especially in rural areas feeling the greatest impact of
out-migration.
8. Zurafo Rahmoni revealed that
the Islamic Renaissance Party’s
Women’s Department is working with a leading fashion designer in
Tajikistan to produce a Sharia-appropriate school uniform that
is uniquely Tajik so that government officials cannot criticize
it as an external influence from Iran or Arab countries. The
new national dress uniform would include the Tajik national
headscarf, which is not a hijab and is permitted by the Ministry
of Education’s new dress code.
The Islamic Renaissance Party
accepts the Tajik national headscarf as a form of hijab. They
are optimistic that the government will compromise and accept
their new proposal on school uniforms.
(Note: The Tajik
headscarf does not fully cover a women’s head like a hijab, and
does not wrap around the neck under the chin. End Note.)
Rahmoni’s proposal is a good example of moving beyond the hijab
debate and taking proactive steps to ensure that all women
receive education regardless of religious practices.
9. COMMENT: The roundtable discussion demonstrated that
promoting gender equality and raising women’s status entails
more than creating a body of law addressing gender inequality
and checking off the box as complete.
In Tajikistan problems of
poverty and a poor healthcare and education system affect both
men and women harshly; but in a country where women in some
families are still viewed as second class citizens, women suffer
disproportionately. More also
needs to be done to change the
attitudes of society — both men and women — to value women and
girls. Unfortunately, only a few
of the political parties have
decided to take on this task. END
COMMENT.
JACOBSON
=======================CABLE ENDS============================
id: 111857
date: 6/13/2007 6:49
refid: 07DUSHANBE883
origin: Embassy Dushanbe
classification: CONFIDENTIAL
destination: 06DUSHANBE2147|06DUSHANBE707
header:
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RR RUEHDBU
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INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1459
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 1977
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 2125
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 2126
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 2160
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 2172
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 000883
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL
E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/12/2017
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KDEM, TI
SUBJECT: TAJIKISTAN’S DEMOCRATIC PARTY INFIGHTING CONTINUES
REF: A. A) 06 DUSHANBE 707
B. B) 06 DUSHANBE 2147
CLASSIFIED BY: TJACOBSON, AMBASSADOR, STATE, STATE.
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d)
1. (U) SUMMARY: The Democratic Party of Tajikistan’s power
struggles and legal battles over the past year have been
confusing enough to rival a daytime soap opera’s complicated
plot. Rahmatullo Valiev, Deputy
Chairman of the Democratic
Party met with PolOff June 7 to discuss the latest round of
court cases and claims to the party’s leadership. END SUMMARY.
BACKGROUND: ISKANDAROV’S IMPRISONMENT LEAVES LEADERSHIP VOID
2. (U) The turning point for the
once promising opposition
party was when the Democratic Party’s wealthy chairman
Mahmadruzzi Iskandarov, a political threat to President Rahmon,
was allegedly kidnapped while walking down the street in Moscow
on April 16, 2005. Iskandarov
claimed security forces illegally
extradited him back to Tajikistan April 22, 2005 where he was
arrested, tortured, placed on trial, convicted of terrorism,
illegal use of weapons, misuse of state funds and organization
of illegal groups, and sentenced to 23 years in prison beginning
January 2006. Although some of
the charges may have been
warranted, international observers generally agree that the
extradition and trial were politically motivated (REFTEL A).
3. (U) Although he is in prison, Iskandarov remains
the
Democratic Party’s Chairman. On
Iskandarov’s birthday, party
members gathered at the Democratic Party headquarters in
Dushanbe to «celebrate.»
Iskandarov was allowed phone calls
from prison and one member’s cell phone was passed around to the
15 members present who each passed along their congratulations
for his health and long life, in jail.
4. (U) Since Iskandarov’s imprisonment, the party’s
focus has
centered on him, the injustices wrought against him, and his
plight to get out of jail; not toward resolving the people’s
social and political issues.
Iskandarov’s absence left a void
in the party’s leadership. Some
party members long for change
and for the party to move forward and shift its focus away from
Iskandarov. The party has
suffered financially as well since
Iskandarov’s incarceration, but his brother, Temur Toshev,
remains an active force in the party.
Toshev was even arrested
November 4 for protesting in front of the Ministry of Justice,
but released (REFTEL B).
THE POWER STRUGGLE: WINNING COURT
CASES AND CONGRESSES
5. (U) Rahmatullo Valiev, the party’s Deputy
Chairman, has
projected himself as the party’s face, liaising with the media
and international community and acting on behalf of Iskandarov.
Valiev has never made claims to the chairmanship and he has
focused his efforts on defending «Iskandarov’s party.» The
party’s internal dispute began in early 2006 when Mahsud Sobirov
declared he would renew the Democratic Party and register a new
party faction called Vatan.
Valiev maintains that Sobirov is a
pawn of the security forces aimed at shutting down the
Democratic Party and Vatan is an artificial party the government
created.
6. (U) On May 14, 2007 a Tajik
court recognized Sobirov as the
Democratic Party’s leader. Valiev
has once again appealed the
court’s decision. The court ruled
that the party’s congress
legally elected Sobirov chairman August 27, 2006. To complicate
matters further, the same Democratic Party members expelled
Sobirov June 3.
7. (U) During the same August 27,
2006 party congress meeting
when members elected Sobirov as the chairman, they also elected
Saidjaffar Ismonov as the first-deputy chairman. In a January
14, 2007 congress, Ismonov urged the party to remove Sobirov and
elect him as chairman, which they did.
Ismonov formally
requested the Ministry of Justice recognize him as the official
chairman, but in a February ruling the ministry determined that
Ismonov should not be recognized as the chairman and the January
14 congress was not initiated or conducted according to the
party’s charter. Valiev has also
been challenging and
appealing the Ministry of Justice’s decision which essentially
recognizes Sobirov as the party’s chairman. This same court
case initiated by Ismonov led to the May 14 decision upholding
Sobirov as chairman, and the current appeal now in process.
DUSHANBE 00000883 002 OF 002
8. (U) During the June 7 meeting with PolOff, Valiev
confirmed
media reports that the party has officially acted within its
charter to expel Sobirov from the party altogether. Members of
the Democratic Party in the Shomansurov District where Sobirov
originally registered as a party member voted to kick out
Sobirov. According to the party’s
charter rules, the original
cell, where the member registered, can expel the member. Valiev
insisted that he did not influence that cell’s decision. He
said that their decision was based on the fact that Sobirov has
not done anything for the party at all and the members are tired
of internal fighting. The members’
main goal for the party is
for it to reunite in the public’s eye and move on with business.
9. (SBU) Although now the Democratic Party may
consider itself
united, the question remains as to what the official decision
from the Ministry of Justice will be.
Valiev’s appeal is still
pending. The ministry faces a
dilemma — the candidate the
government supported has been publicly ousted from the party.
So how will the court officially rule?
Embassy sources say that
the Ministry of Justice itself is confused and is debating how
to deal with the impending appeal.
It will have to make a
decision sooner or later on who the officially recognized
chairman is. If Sobirov remains
the recognized leader, the
Ministry of Justice will be defying the party’s actions which
the party has made publicly known, and will create a separate
faction. The Democratic Party
will face the same problem as the
Socialist Party which had split in two, with the competing
chairmen dissipating their political energy arguing over who is
the real party boss. First the
party must take a hard look at
the void in leadership: Iskandarov remains in prison; members
expelled Sobirov; and no one supports Ismonov.
10. (C) COMMENT:
The party’s lack of leadership has hindered
its ability to form a real platform and serve as a political
party which lobbies for its constituents’ rights and beliefs.
Average Tajiks view the party as disorganized and dysfunctional
and its membership has declined.
The party needs an effective
leader who can move the organization beyond its internal
struggle, beyond the imprisoned Iskandarov. Neither Sobirov,
nor Ismonov, nor Valiev have the charisma or foresight to lead
the party, and at present no other clear leader has emerged.
Sobirov, Ismonov, and Valiev most likely have all collaborated
with security officials at one point or another in their quests
for power, and the government probably did have a role in the
party’s internal conflict. This
already weak opposition party
sees itself fading fast, and if government officials really
wanted to wipe out the party, they did not need to interfere
much. END COMMENT.
JACOBSON
