Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Foes OK meeting of Tajikistan parliament Date: Mon, 26 Oct 92 14:37:03 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD Foes OK meeting of Tajikistan parliament \BY ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT DUSHANBE, Tajikistan DUSHANBE, Tajikistan (AP) - Rebel leaders and Tajikistan's acting president agreed yesterday to hold an emergency parliament session, and the rebels began to leave government buildings they had seized the day before. The agreement offered hope of a negotiated solution to the uprising against acting President Akbarshah Iskandarov by supporters of the republic's former communist leader, Rakhmon Nabiyev. About two dozen people were reported killed Saturday in street battles. The Interfax news agency, however, reported "hundreds" of victims and said 150 bodies were brought to just one Dushanbe hospital. U.S. Ambassador Stanley Escudero and the embassy's staff were evacuated yesterday by a U.S. military C-141 plane because of heavy gunfire around the hotel that houses the embassy, a State Department spokesman said in Washington. Witnesses said the diplomats were brought to Dushanbe's airport in Russian armored vehicles, and the C-141 took off for Rhein-Main Air Base near Frankfurt, Germany. The rebels seek the return to power of Mr. Nabiyev, who was forced to resign in September and was replaced by Mr. Iskandarov, who put together a coalition of Islamic and democratic parties. Mr. Nabiyev's supporters say they oppose Islamic fundamentalism and want to build a secular state. Their partial withdrawal was reported by Col. Alidzhon Solibayev, head of the pro-Iskandarov National Security Committee, Tajik television and several witnesses. TV broadcasts said the rebels, facing ammunition and food shortages, left the presidential palace and were withdrawing from the parliament, with only 150 still remaining inside. A fire was reported in one part of the building. Dushanbe journalist Salokheddin Ergashev said the rebels completed their withdrawal last night. According to an agreement with Mr. Iskandarov's forces, the Nabiyev loyalists surrendered their weapons to the Russian army, and their withdrawal was secured by the Russians, Mr. Ergashev said. In one sign of reconciliation, Mr. Iskandarov met yesterday with Safarali Kendzhayev, a Nabiyev supporter and former parliamentary spokesman. During talks at a Russian military base, they decided to convene the emergency session of parliament later this week, possibly today. Interfax said the session might be held in Mr. Nabiyev's hometown of Khodzhent, where he is said to be staying. Mr. Kendzhayev previously has attacked the ruling coalition as a "puppet government backed by Islamic fundamentalists." The Nabiyev partisans, who are from the southern Kulyab region, stormed into Dushanbe on Saturday. Within hours, they captured the parliament, presidential palace, Cabinet office and offices of Tajikistan's spiritual leader. The attack by Nabiyev loyalists came hours after Mr. Iskandarov declared a two-month state of emergency and imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on Dushanbe. Hundreds have been killed in recent unrest in Tajikistan, a poor central Asian nation of 5.1 million people. The collapse of the Soviet Union unleashed ethnic and land disputes predating the communist era. Russia's Foreign Ministry has expressed "deep concern" over the fighting and the fate of ethnic Russians in Tajikistan, where anti-Russian sentiment is widespread. Although Tajikistan is more than 80 percent ethnic Tajik or Uzbek, Russians hold many of the professional jobs needed to keep the economy and government functioning. Russian troops, who remained neutral in the fighting, guarded Dushanbe's airport, train station and television center. Mr. Nabiyev was the third president of a former Soviet republic to be toppled. The presidents of Azerbaijan and Georgia were also forced out in ethnic and political unrest. Relative calm had returned to Dushanbe by midday yesterday, and government troops regained control of several neighborhoods. But Moscow's Channel 1 television said clashes continued yesterday evening in the city of 800,000. "The streets are deserted and several of them are blocked with heavy Kamaz trucks," said Maxim Marmur, a photographer for the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda. "There are groups of armed men running back and forth but no civilians." This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM