The Tajikistan Peace-Building Initiative The Inter-Tajik Dialogue (ITD) was initiated in March 1993 as an unofficial dialogue intervention to deal with the ongoing Tajik civil war. ITD involved a core of ten to fourteen influential citizens of Tajikistan divided among the different political factions. A third-party team of 3 Americans and 3 Russians moderated the discussions.
ITD played a significant part in the different phases of the peace-making process in Tajikistan:
- First, in paving the way for negotiations (1993-1994). This period ended in April 1994 with the launching of the official UN-mediated negotiations to which three ITD members were delegates
- Second, in providing a parallel venue to the official negotiations where ITD members focused on the elements of a political process of national reconciliation (1994-1997). A peace agreement was concluded and signed in 1997.
- Third, in a transitional period for establishing a process of national reconciliation (1997-2000): Four ITD members became members of the Commission on National Reconciliation (CNR) which was entrusted with overseeing the implementation of the peace accords.
The Arab-American-European Dialogue (AAE) This initiative creates a space where influential and thoughtful citizens from Europe, the United States, and the Arab region gather to discuss the sources of the confrontation between the Arab world and the West and explore the terms of a new relationship between these three parts of the world. The AAE dialogue was launched in March 2004 and is now in its third year of operation. It has tackled a variety of important topics including among others: reforms in the Arab region, electoral processes in Arab countries, the relationship between state, religion and society in the West and Arab region, and an issue cluster dealing with terrorism, violence and occupation. A dialogue executive committee was formed in February 2004 and is now responsible for designing the dialogue meetings and outreach activities. Small delegations of Arab dialogue members have met with parliamentarians in Britain and Italy and with Muslim European groups in Britain. We will be organizing a series of meetings for a similar dialogue group to visit France and the EU headquarters in Brussels.