Tajik opposition pulls out of Reconcilitation Commission

The Islamic opposition in Tajikistan has suspended its participation in the Reconciliation Commission, set up to bring peace to the country after five years of civil war.

The opposition leader, Said Abdullo Nuri, accused President Rakhmonov of failing to set up the power-sharing government promised in last June's peace agreement, and refusing to allow senior opposition figures including Tajikistan's former spiritual leader, Akbar Turajonzoda to return to the country.

However, the opposition has stressed it remains committed to peace.

The BBC Correspondent in Dushanbe says the Tajik government will have to respond quickly, as the National Reconciliation Commission is the cornerstone of the peace plan, in a country which remains deeply unstable and haunted by violence.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service