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 to return to the country. BBC Correspondent Monica Whitlock reports:

The Opposition is exasperated by the crawling pace of change. A coalition government should already be in place but nothing has happened despite months of talks.

President Rakhmanov's ministers are all still in office while Mr. Noori's candidates watch and wait.

Most of them are Islamic-style politicians, most famously the former spiritual leader of the country, Akbar Turajonzoda, a powerful figure who now lives in exile in Iran. Mr. Noori's statement is carefully worded. It stresses that the opposition is still committed to peace.

At the same time it pushes up the stakes by pressing the leadership to live up to its promises and show it's serious about sharing power. The government will have to respond quickly.

The National Reconciliation Commission is the cornerstone of the peace plan. It's a body half government half opposition that's meant to usher in all manner of reforms and create a new atmosphere of trust.

Without Mr. Noori on side, there can be no Commission and the whole peace plan is left floundering.

This is no idle political game. Tajikistan is a deeply unstable country driven by feuding warlords and haunted by violence.