DUSHANBE, 30 March 2001 -- From
27 to 29 March 2001, the Head of OSCE Mission to Tajikistan, Ambassador
Marc Gilbert, accompanied by three international Mission members, paid
a visit to the three districts of Karotegyn Valley, including Gharm, Dzhirgatal
and Darband.
The visit included meetings with the
senior representatives of Hukumats (local authorities), representatives
of the judiciary (court and prosecutor), militia, and the United Nations
Area Manager. During the discussions there was a general agreement that
the political and social situation in the Karotegyn Valley is stable and
normalized and that concrete steps in the field of human rights and social
assessment should be taken in the near future.
The Head of Mission also met with representatives of the civil society in Gharm and Dzhirgatal - including women support groups - to discuss the very difficult situation of women in the region after the civil war.
On the same occasion the OSCE Mission distributed over one thousand books to schools in need of support. One of the visited schools, with 250 pupils, functions in an abandoned stable of a closed farm.
The fact that the Head of OSCE Mission visited for the first time Dzhirgatal (the most remote district of the Valley, neighbouring with Kyrgyzstan) and Darband, after Mullo Abdullo, a former non-affiliated field commander, left this district last autumn, is evidence that the situation in the Valley is normalizing.
For more information or press queries, please contact: Mr. Filaret Motco, Political and Media Officer, OSCE Mission to Tajikistan, tel.: + (992-372) 24 58 79, 21 40 63, 24 33 38, sat. tel.: +873 682 322 495, fax: (+992-372) 24 91 59, 51 01 37, sat. fax: +873 682 322 497, e-mail:filaret@osce.tajik.net