TAJIKISTAN: TWO NEW DEPUTY MINISTERS APPOINTED

C O N F I D E N T I A L DUSHANBE 001869

SIPDIS


STATE FOR EUR/CACEN, SA, INR/B
NSC FOR MERKEL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/28/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR TI
SUBJECT: TAJIKISTAN: TWO NEW DEPUTY MINISTERS APPOINTED
UNEXPECTEDLY


CLASSIFIED BY: Richard E. Hoagland, Ambassador, EXEC, Embassy
Dushanbe.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)


1. (U) President Rahmonov unexpectedly appointed two key deputy
ministers on November 24 - Saidmumin Sattorovich Yatimov as new
First Deputy Foreign Minister and Kosim Abdusalomovich Gaforov
as Deputy Minister of Security.


2. (SBU) Major-General Yatimov had been Deputy Minister of
Security for International Relations and Cooperation with
Foreign Security Services since 2001. He is a career KGB
officer and replaces the Foreign Ministry's First Deputy
Sirojiddin Aslov who has been named Tajikistan's PermRep to the
United Nations.


3. (C) Prior to his new appointment, Colonel Gaforov headed the
Counter-Intelligence Department at the Ministry of Security
since April 2004. A former Soviet KGB officer, Gaforov was the
Chief of the Tajik Tourism Agency 1998-2004. (COMMENT: That
says a lot about the Tajik "tourism" industry. END COMMENT.)


4. (C) The appointments were unexpected, even for the
appointees. On the morning of November 24, both were at
Dushanbe International Airport working on a sensitive case when
they received word that Rahmonov wanted to see them immediately.
Yatimov reportedly blanched. They expected the worst.
Instead, they got new jobs.


5. (C) On November 21, Foreign Minister Talbak Nazarov had
groused to the Ambassador that with Aslov going to the UN, he'd
have to find a new First Deputy, and it could take several
months. Instead, it took three days. Although the Foreign
Ministry has a good number of secunded Security Ministry
officers in its various sections, Yatimov will be the most
senior among them. During the past 18 months, in the aftermath
of the "color revolutions" and the ascendancy of Russia in the
Ministry of Security, Yatimov has been the point man designated
to meet (rarely) with the Ambassador and other senior Western
officials. However, he had also been disliked within the
Security Ministry for being imperious. He had recently
campaigned for the UN PermRep job. In his late 40's, he speaks
reasonably good English, although it becomes increasingly
fractured in long meetings, and insists on using it even with
Russian-speaking American officers. His English seems to some
to have a slight Chinese accent.


6. (C) While there had been politically elite chatter that
Yatimov might replace Aslov as First Deputy Foreign Minister,
Gaforov's promotion is a real surprise, especially since he had
let it be known in-house that he was disgruntled after not
having reached the rank of general in the last round of
promotions earlier this year, and it was thought he would soon
retire. Embassy Dushanbe maintains a good relationship with
him. He has been particularly helpful in resolving difficult
AmCit consular cases. In his late 40's, he speaks fluent
English with a British accent. In November 1992, Gaforov
orchestrated the Embassy's first meeting between then-U.S.
Charge d'affaires Edmund McWilliams and at that time Chairman of
Government Emomali Rahmonov.


7. (C) COMMENT: We are intrigued by these appointments. It
had become conventional-wisdom chatter in the Western diplomatic
community that President Rahmonov appeared to be selling out to
Moscow - and that kind of chatter gets picked up and reported.
It could be that Rahmonov is sending a signal, or wants to give
the illusion, that he is restoring a degree of balance in his


relations between Russia and the West. Foreign Ministry
officials have told us they are taking a wait-and-see attitude
about Yatimov. We don't rule out that he will crack a velvet
whip to rein in a bit the relatively liberal Foreign Ministry.
We will know more once we begin to deal with him for
problem-solving. With Ghaforov, it is unclear if he will have
any clout with the hard-line Ministry of Security. Initially to
us, his appointment seems possibly a cosmetic calculation for
Western consumption. END COMMENT.
HOAGLAND


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