SUMMARY
UTO (United Tajik Opposition) was an umbrella organization comprised of several actors with varying ideological convictions that fought in the Tajik intrastate armed conflict over government that began in 1992. While the group was formally created in January 1993, UCDP used this label even before that. This is due to the fact that the quality of reporting was too poor to be able to code the activities of what would become UTO’s constituent parties separately. Aside from being an opposition group, it also made up the government side for a brief period (7 September 1992 – 18 November 1992) as it at that time dominated the so-called “Government of National Reconciliation”, and thus controlled the capital Dushanbe. Subsequent to that, UTO once again found itself in opposition to the government.
UTO was formally set up in Afghanistan in 1993 by the Islamist-oriented Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRP, Hizbi Nahzati Islomii Tojikiston), the secular Democratic Party of Tajikistan (DPT, Hizbi Demokrati Tojikiston), the moderate nationalist and democratic Rastokhez (“Rebirth”) Movement, and the Lali Badakhshan (“Ruby of Badakhshan”) Movement that represented the former separatists from the region Gorno-Badakhshan. The parties that comprised UTO primarily drew their support from Tajikistan’s Gharmi and Pamiri (Badakhshan) clans, while its opponents (see Government of Tajikistan) were supported by the Leninobod/Khujand and Kulyabi clans, and the Uzbek minority.
IRP was the most militarily capable faction within UTO, and provided the bulk of its fighting forces; IRP’s Said Abdullo Nuri was also the leader of the organization. In November and December 1992, following the group’s stint in power, UTO suffered major defeats at the hands of the new Rakhmanov government and subsequently regrouped in Afghanistan.
UTO signed a peace agreement with the Government of Tajikistan on 27 June 1997, which included a power-sharing arrangement and the integration of thousands of UTO fighters into the Tajik Army. As a result, several UTO representatives assumed senior government positions. The group formally disbanded its forces on 3 August 1999. However, the Government of Tajikistan failed to implement the part of the agreement which stipulated that the UTO should fill 30 percent of the government positions. Some UTO warlords (see for example Forces of Mullo Abdullo) refused to accept the peace agreement. After UTO split into its constituent parts, the IRP assumed the role of the main political opposition party.
UTO used Afghan territory controlled by warlords such as Ahmad Shah Massoud and Gulbeddin Hekmatyar to train and rebuild its forces, and during 1993 it launched attacks from these areas into Tajikistan. However, there was no direct military or economic support given to UTO from external actors. The weapons used by UTO did for example come from old Soviet arms depots. UTO’s ability to recruit refugees in Afghanistan was limited by repatriation efforts by the UNHCR that began in May 1993, and by anti-recruitment efforts made by Afghan warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, who had connections to the PFT and the Government of Uzbekistan, both of which were opposed to UTO.
