• by IPS Correspondents (united nations)
• Friday, December 16, 1994
• Inter Press Service

UNITED NATIONS, Dic 16 (IPS) - The U.N. Security Council Friday unanimously approved the establishment of the world body's 17th current peacekeeping force, in Tajikistan.

The Council unanimously approved the creation of a 40-member U.N. Mission of Observers in Tajikistan (UNMOT) for a six-month period to uphold the fragile ceasefire between the nation's post- Soviet government and Islamist rebels.

Although small in size, the very existence of UNMOT marks a change from a year in which the United Nations -- which created 11 peacekeeping forces in the two-year phase following the 1991 Gulf War -- kept away from any new ventures.

Following last year's high-profile peacekeeping failings in Bosnia-Hercegovina and Somalia, key Security Council powers, led by the United States, vowed not to create more missions unless they adhered to strict guidelines.

In particular, according to U.S. President Bill Clinton, new U.N. missions should have definite end points and be based strictly on the basis of cooperation with all warring parties.

The remarkable thing about UNMOT -- the first peacekeeping venture, save for a short-lived force at the Libya-Chad border, since Oct. 1993 -- is that it clearly does not uphold those criteria.

As Czech Ambassador Karel Kovanda -- whose nation nevertheless voted in favour of UNMOT -- noted, the Sep. 17 ceasefire agreement between the Tajik government and rebel forces "even describes itself as 'provisional' or 'temporary'."

The Council resolution noted that UNMOT's six-month mandate will be extended beyond Feb. 6 only if the Tajik ceasefire, which is only slated to last until that date, is extended before then.

Kovanda said that the Czech Republic remains concerned about the fragility of Tajik peace and that UNMOT must strive to remain neutral in its dealings with all parties.

A key worry for the Council has been that the force will have to cooperate with the joint peacekeeping forces of the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which has won the trust only of the Dushanbe government.

Tajikistan's current government, headed by former Communist Emamoli Rakhmanov, was placed into power with Moscow's help following years of democratic uprisings. As a result, the Islamist rebels have distrusted the CIS forces, leaving the threat looming of wider warfare among post-Soviet and Muslim nations.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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