United Tajik Opposition N ovember 13, 1997. After nearly five years of exile in Afghanistan, the final group of 28 Tajik refugee families returns home. With all their worldly possessions from sewing machines to small farm animals they make the journey by truck, river barge, and railway, and are met by their relatives at the Shaartuz train station.
Jubilation abounds amid hope for the prospect of a lasting peace.
November 18, 1997. Several armed men burst into the apartment of two French humanitarian aid workers and spirit them away under cover of darkness to an undisclosed location. The news grips the international community with fear, and paralyzes their work. Less than a fortnight later, one hostage escapes, but the other is killed in a government raid on the captors safehouse. The highs and lows within the space of five days vividly illustrate the shifting centers of turmoil across the divided landscape of Tajikistan today.