Saviours of the nation or robber barons? Warlord politics in Tajikistan

Central Asian Survey

Volumn 24, Issue 2, 2005, Pages 109-130

  Nourzhanov, Kirill ^a  

^a AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

LEADERSHIP; POLITICAL CONFLICT; WAR;

ASIA; EASTERN HEMISPHERE; EURASIA; TAJIKISTAN; WEST ASIA; WORLD;

EID: 22444440744     PISSN: 02634937     EISSN: None     Source Type: Trade Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/02634930500154867     Document Type: Review

References (110)

1. The Guardian Weekly, 16 February 1997.
2. The Australian, 12 August 1997.
3. Luigi De Martino, 'Tajikistan at a crossroad: contradictory forces at the heart of the Tajik political system', in Luigi De Martino, ed, Tajikistan at a Crossroad: The Politics of Decentralisation (Geneva, CIMERA, 2004), p 154.
4. Critics of Rahmonov do refer to the 'Afghanisation' of Tajikistan under his leadership, cf. dissident journalist Dodojon Atovulloev's invective against 'fat, ruddy-cheeked politicians' each of whom 'has his own territory, his own "army" and his own "constitution" ('Kto predotvratit novye bedy?', Nezavisimaia gazeta, 31 January 2001).
5. V.V. Zhukov, Kitaiskii militarizm. 10-20-e gody XXv (Moscow: Nauka, 1988), p 28.
6. Lucian W. Pye, Warlord Politics. Conflict and Coalition in the Modernisation of Republican China (New York: Praeger, 1971), p 39.
7. See William Reno, 'Order and commerce in turbulent areas: 19th century lessons, 21st century practice', Third World Quarterly, Vol 25, No 4, 2004, pp 607-625.
8. T.P. Robinson, "Twenty-First Century Warlords": Diagnosis and Treatment?', Defence Studies, Vol 1, No 1, 2001, p 127.
9. Ibid., pp 127-128.
10. Alice Hills, 'Warlords, militia and conflict in contemporary Africa: a re-examination of terms', Small Wars and Insurgencies, Vol 8, No 1, 1997, pp 36-37.
11. John Mackinlay, 'War Lords', RUSI Journal, Vol 143, No 2, 1998, p 28.
12. Gordon Peake, 'From warlords to peacelords?', Journal of International Affairs, Vol 56, No 2, 2003, p 183.
13. Rahmon 'Hitler' Sanginov and Mirzo Ziyoev are good examples of UTO warlords. The former, assisted by a force of about 150 fighters, ran a quasi-Islamist administration in the village of Rohaty close to Dushanbe during 1997-2001 until he was killed by government forces. He banned alcohol, practiced corporal punishment, and introduced separate education for boys and girls. His men were reported to have committed over 400 serious crimes, including 270 murders. ('V Dushanbe vylovili bandu Gitlera', http://lenta.ru/terror/2001/06/25/tajikistan, accessed 26 June 2001.) The latter was appointed as the Minister for Emergencies of Tajikistan in 1998. He has 2000-2500 followers under arms, and controls substantial territory in southern Tajikistan.
14. Martha Brill Olcott, 'Nation building and ethnicity in the foreign policies of the new Central Asian states', in Roman Szporluk, ed, National Identity and Ethnicity in Russia and the New States of Eurasia (Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, 1994), p 209.
15. Vechernii Dushanbe, 29 May 1992.
16. Massive quantities of weapons were procured for Tajikistan at the black market in Uzbekistan's Karshi - apparently, from the stockpiles of the 40th Army withdrawn from Afghanistan in 1989 (D. Mikulskii, 'Svidetelstvo voiny v Tadzhikistane', in Igor Ermakov and Dmitrii Mikulskii, eds, Islam v Rossii i Srednei Azii (Moscow: Lotus Foundation, 1993), p 256).
17. Vechernii Dushanbe, 26 November 1992.
18. Nezavisimaia gazeta, 12 October 1994.
19. Yuri Kushko, 'Teetering on the brink in Tajikistan', Transitions, Vol 5, No 5, May 1998, p 62.
20. For an in-depth discussion of regionalism in Tajikistan and its role in the conflict, see Aziz Niyazi, 'Tadzhikistan: konflikt regionov', Vostok, No 2, 1997, pp 94-107.
21. Life in the Leninobod oblast, mostly self-sufficient and oriented to Uzbekistan and Russia, saw almost no disruption in 1992: 'Being in Khujand, it is hard to imagine that there is a war being waged in this country. Public transport works, bazaars and stores function, there are wedding corteges in the daytime, and the streets are lit in the evening' (Arkadii Dubnov, 'Deputaty dogovorilis'. Teper' delo za polevymi komandirami', Novoe vremia, No 49, December 1992, p 15).
22. Theodor Hanf, Coexistence in Wartime Lebanon. Decline of a State and Rise of a Nation (London: The Centre for Lebanese Studies/I.B. Tauris, 1993), p 325.
23. Interview with Editor-in-Chief of the Haqiqati Kolkhozobod newspaper, Temurboi Khojaev, Kolkhozobod, 28 April 1995.
24. 'Tadzhikistan. Hidden terror: political killings, 'disappearances' and torture since December 1992', Amnesty International Document EUR 60/04/ 93, May 1993, p 2.
25. As a chairman of an Uzbek (Urghut) kolkhoz in Qurghonteppa put it, 'opposition plunged Urghuts into misery. Eighty per cent of their houses were burnt. I buried thirty of the massacred myself, including women and children.... Cruelty has possessed the people. We are also accused of sins, but in comparison with Gharmis' bestiality they are kids' stuff (Golos Tadzhikistana, 13 September 1992).
26. G. Khaidarov and M. Inomov, Tadzhikistan: tragediia i bol' naroda (St. Petersburg: Linko, 1993),' pp 102-103.
27. The Tajik term nomus is identical to the Pushtun namus, which has been defined in the following way: 'House, women and land are all subsumed under the same concept of honour, namus. The namus of a family household is the embodiment of its socially recognised existence, its autonomy, in short its social identity as 'proper Pushtun'. It is the common property and the common cause for all its members to defend against the outer world, that is to say, in the Pushtun social universe, primarily against other households of similar structure and ideally equal status' (Inger W. Boesen, 'Honour in exile: continuity and change among Afghan refugees', in Ewan W. Anderson and Nancy Hatch Dupree, eds, The Cultural Basis of Afghan Nationalism (London: Pinter, 1990), p 163).
28. Verses of poet Amirshoi Khatloni, quoted from: Hasan Yusuf, Nomusu nangi millat (Dushanbe: Irfon, 1994), p 18.
29. Interview with Major-General Yaqubjon Salimov, the Minister of Interior of the Republic of Tajikistan. Dushanbe TV, in Tajik, 10 February 1995, 8.50 pm local time.
30. Poignantly, the title of the martyrology of the Kulobi militiamen is Nomus (Rajabi Munki, Amirshoi Khatloni, Nomus (Dushanbe: Payk, 1994). For a penetrative study of the Islamists' (predominantly Gharmi) hagiography, see D.V. Mikulskii, 'Opyt analiza nekrologov chlenov Islamskoi partii vozrozhdeniia Tadzhikistana: traditsionnoe i sovremennoe', Vostok, No 1, 1996, pp 56-64.
31. V.I. Bushkov and D.V. Mikulskii, Istoriia grazhdanskoi voiny v Tadzhikistane (Moscow: Institute of Ethnology and Anthropolgy of the Academy of Science of the RF, 1996), p 139.
32. Safarali Kenjaev, Tabadduloti Tojikiston, Vol 1 (Dushanbe: Fondi Kenjaev, 1993), p 68.
33. In June 1992, several hundred of Abdulloev's officers sealed off Hissor's administrative borders and took under their protection several camps of refugees from Qurghonteppa.
34. Tadzhikistan v ogne (Dushanbe: Irfon, 1993), p 191.
35. Vladislav, Shuzygin, 'Nastoiashchii polkovnik', Zautza, 12 August 1997.
36. See Dmitri Likhanov, 'Organised Crime in Central Asia', Telos, Vol 75, Spring 1988, pp 93-95.
37. Mikulskii, op cit, Ref 16, pp 254-255.
38. Pravda, 10 May 1990.
39. V.I. Bushkov and D.V. Mikulskii, 'Tadzhikskaia revoliutsiia' i grazhdanskaia voina (1989-1994gg) (Moscow: TsIMO, 1995), p 63.
40. Narzullo Dustov, Zakhm bar jismi vatan (Dushanbe: Irfon, 1994), p 239.
41. For a detailed analysis, see Kirill Nourzhanov, 'Alternative social institutions and the politics of neopatrimonialism in Tajikistan', Russian and Euro-Asian Economics Bulletin, Vol 5, No 8, August 1996, pp 1-9.
42. On the male unions in Central Asia, see G.P. Snesarev, 'O reliktakh muzhskikh soiuzov v istorii narodov Srednei Azii', in VII Mezhdunarodnyi kongress antropologicheskikh i etnograficheskikh nauk (Moscow: Nauka, 1964), pp 1-6.
43. Vladimir Medvedev, 'Saga o bobo Sangake, voine', Druzhba narodov, No 6, 1993, p 190.
44. Nozir Yodgori, Saddi otash (Dushanbe: Firdavs, 1993), p 82.
45. Hikmatullo Nasriddinov, Turkish (Dushanbe: Afsona, 1995), pp 288-289.
46. Safarali Kenjaev, Tabadduloti Tojikiston, Vol 2 (Tashkent: Uzbekistan, 1994), p 263.
47. Izvestiia, 5 September 1992.
48. Russkaia mysl, 25 September 1992.
49. Bushkov and Mikulskii, op cit, Ref 38, pp 30-31.
50. By mid-September the population of that city was reduced from 70,000 to 5000; an eyewitness reported then: 'There is no authority or justice in the city today. Nobody knows the exact number of the dead. Many corpses simply lie on the streets and in the gutters uncollected, decomposing in the heat. Hundreds of people have gone missing, and it is not clear whether they have been murdered, taken hostage or are hiding in the basements. Fires and marauding plague the city.... The peaceful population is terrorised, but what particular group does that is hard to establish. Commanders of formations unanimously claim that they will deal with robbers and killers themselves, denying their men's participation' (Tadzhikistan v ogne, op cit, Ref 34, pp 193, 214).
51. Arkadii Dubnov, 'Prodam BTR, kupliu dom v Rossii', Novoe vremia, No 43, October 1992, p 9.
52. Halim Barakat, 'The social context', in P. Edward Haley and Lewis W. Snider, eds, Lebanon in Crisis: Participants and Issues (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1979), p 12.
53. Analysis of the losses sustained by the HNG of the Vakhsh raion shows that out of 227 dead between 7 May and 2 September 1992, 214 or 94 percent were killed near their places of birth and/or residence, which means that they were engaged in defensive operations (Kenjaev, op cit, Ref 45, pp 341-349).
54. Ibid, p 290.
55. Christopher J. Panico, 'Uzbekistan's southern diplomacy', RFE/RL Research Report, Vol 2, No 13, 26 March 1993, p 40.
56. Dubnov, op cit, Ref 21, p 15.
57. Rahmonov was born in Danghara and grew up in Sangak Safarov's mahalla, who became his patron. In early November 1992, Rahmonov made a meteoric rise from the position of a sovkhoz director to the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Kulob oblast, to replace Jurakhon Rizoev, conveniently killed by bobo Sangak.
58. Golos Tadzhikistana, 20 January 1993.
59. Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh, 'National reconciliation: the imperfect whim', Central Asian Survey, Vol 15, No 3/4, December 1996, p 341.
60. Slovo Kyrgyzstana, 2 April 1993.
61. Aleksei Rasulov, 'Nuzhny li novoi tadzhikskoi biurokiatii partizanskie avtoritety?', Rossiia i musulmanskii mir, No 5, 1993, p 42.
62. Biznes i politika, No 8 (77), 1994, p 1.
63. Charoghi ruz, No 1 (79), 1995, p 4.
64. Vechernii kurier, 22 December 1995.
65. Izvestiia, 16 August 1995.
66. Novaya gazeta, 8 December 1998.
67. See Arkady Dubnov, 'Who runs the show in Dushanbe?', New Times, No 12, March 1997, pp 36-37.
68. Krasnaia zvezda, 29 January 2004.
69. Novoe voennoe obozrenie, 27 July 2001.
70. Sanobar Shermatova, 'Druz'ia i vragi Rahmonova', Moskovskie novosti, 18 September 2000.
71. Nourzhanov, op cit, Ref 40, p 7.
72. Grigorii Kosach, 'Tadzhikistan: rezhim stabiliziruetsia', Rossiia i musulmanskii mir, No 12 (42), 1995, pp 52-53.
73. Biznes i politika, No 44, December 1993, p 1.
74. 'New brigade formed in the President's Guard', Asia-Plus, Bulletin No 1, April 1996, http://www.internews.ru/ASIA-PLUS/bulletin_1/ brigade.html, accessed 24 May 1996.
75. Nezavisimaia gazeta, 16 June 1994.
76. Zavtra, 12 August 1997.
77. 'Mahmud Khudoiberdiev: I am the agent of my people', Asia-Plus, Bulletin No 21, 1997, http://www.internews.ras.ru/ASIA-PLUS/bulletin_21/ who.html, accessed 5 August 2004.
78. An investigative commission was set up by the President, but as the Tajik observers remarked at the time, 'Who in case Khudoiberdiev's error is proved will dare to punish him?' 'On the events in Tursunzoda', Asia-Plus, Bulletin No 18, 1997, http://www.internews.ras.ru/ ASIA-PLUS/bulletin_18/events.html, accessed 3 September 2004.
79. Between December 1992 and July 1995, 13,000 firearms out of the estimated 70,000-75,000 at large were recovered (Golos Tadzhikistana, 7 July 1995).
80. The Resolution of the Council of Ministers No. 312, 'On the Social Protection of Persons Who Participated in the Armed Activities (Conflicts) to Defend the Constitutional Order of the Republic of Tajikistan' adopted on 29 June 1993 envisaged pensions and other social benefits for the PFT members equal to those of the Second World War veterans (Leninabadskaia pravda, 19 February 1994).
81. Vechernii Dushanbe, 3 February 1995.
82. Nezavisimaia gazeta, 12 April 1995.
83. Karimov was accused of killing two members of the previous parliament and illegal possession of weapons: his country house harboured one armoured personnel carrier, 18 mortars and hundreds of machine guns (Russkaia mysl, 9 November 1995).
84. Among these, charged with mutiny, was Yaqubjon Salimov, who had returned from diplomatic exile in Turkey and worked as the chairman of the Customs Committee ('Shake-up within Tajik parliament', RFE/RL Newsline, electronic edition, No 179, Part I, 15 December 1997).
85. For a history of peace negotiations and details of the General Agreement see Kirill Nourzhanov, 'Politics of national reconciliation in Tajikistan: from peace talks to (partial) political settlement', in David Christian and Craig Benjamin, eds, Realms of the Silk Roads: Ancient and Modern, Vol 4 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2000), pp 161-180.
86. Andrei Volos, 'Istoriia odnogo pokusheniia', Index, No 2, 1997, http://www.internews.ru/smii/index/d297avol.html, accessed 2 March 2004.
87. All three are also heads of ramified patronage networks and enjoy great respect in the Leninobod region.
88. Nezavisimaia gazeta, 25 December 1996.
89. Arkady Dubnov, 'The Tajik Roulette', New Times, October 1997, p 35.
90. http://www.nns.ru/otstavki/1997/199708/0820/sos59.html, accessed 12 August 2004.
91. Monika Shepherd, 'Turf war erupts in Dushanbe, spreads west and south', The NIS Observed: An Analytical Review, Vol 2, No 15, 20 August 1997, http://www.bu.edu/iscip/digest/vol2/ed15.html#monika, accessed 10 August 2004.
92. Izvestiia, 15 August 1997.
93. D.V. Mikulskii, 'Voenno-politicheskaia obstanovka. Miatezh v Leninabadskoi oblasti', Bulleten' po problemam bezhentsev, No 10, 1998, p 1.
94. WPS, 'K voprosu ob uzbeksko-tadzhikskikh otnosheniiakh', PressDozor, 6 January 1999, http://www.wps.ru/ru/products/pp/ military/1999/01/06.html, accessed 29 November 2004.
95. The circumstances of Khudoberdyev's death are unclear. He was reported to have died in a car accident or in a drunken brawl, although most agree that he was killed at a meeting with Uzbek military officials by his second in command, Col. Sergei Zvarygin (Nezavisimaia gazeta, 11 October 2001).
96. Chetvertaia mirovaia voina, 'Ob'edinennaia tadzhikskaia oppozitsia', http://www.worldwarfour.org/show_1.shtml?id=386, accessed 1 September 2004.
97. Nizomov is particularly revered in Gharm, where folk stories about his uncompromising fight against injustice since childhood abound (see, for example, Asia-Plus, No 16, 12 May 2000). Civil authorities in Gharm may be appointed from Dushanbe, but they must be acutely aware of the presence of at least three battalion-size formations on their territory, which comprise ex-UTO fighters.
98. See, for example, Arne C. Seifert, 'Requirements for the settlements of conflicts in transformation societies - reflections on the conflict in Tajikistan', Vostok, No 5, 2000, pp 62-75. Meaningful conclusions could also be drawn from Alijon Boimatov, 'Economic relations between centre and regions: the case of Sughd Province', in De Martino, op cit, Ref 3, pp 47-85,
99. Meaningful conclusions could also be drawn from Alijon Boimatov, 'Economic relations between centre and regions: the case of Sughd Province', in De Martino, op cit, Ref 3, pp 47-85,
100. and Sergei Abashin and Valentin Bushkov, 'Tadzhikistan: Nekotorye posledstviia tragicheskikh let', Issledovaniia po prikladnoi i neotlozhnoi etnologii, No 120, 1998 (esp. Table 11) - for a number of years, the Leninobod region stagnated while Khatlon prospered, arguably, as a result of government fiscal and investment policies.
101. Novaya gazeta (11 December 2003) estimated the volume of heroin transit through Tajikistan at 300-400 tonnes a year. Nuritdin Sukhravardy has opined that quotas for transhipment of drugs from Afghanistan are agreed upon by Ziyoev, Nizomov and Ghaffor Mirzoev ("Dvoinoe dno' tadzhikskoi diplomatii', http://www.centrasia.ru/ newsA.php4?st=1036185720, accessed 19 August 2004).
102. See also Nezavisimoe voennoe obozrenie, 24 October 2003; Moskovskii komsomolets, 8 August 2003.
103. Asad Sadulloev, 'Kuda vedut narkovozhdi?', Navigator-II, 17 November 2003, http://www.navi.kz/articles/?artid=4893, accessed 2 September 2004.
104. Izvestia, 6 August 2004.
105. Charoghi ruz, No 1 (107), 2004, p 5
106. International Crisis Group, 'Tajikistan's politics: consolidation or confrontation?' Asia Briefing, 19 May 2004, p 3.
107. Vremia novostei, 7 April 2004.
108. See Kirill Nourzhanov, 'The politics of history in Tajikistan: reinventing the Samanids', Harvard Asia Quarterly, Vol 5, No 1, Winter 2001, pp 13-21.
109. International Crisis Group, op cit, Ref. 102, p 5.
110. Charoghi ruz, No 1 (105), 2003, pp 6-7.