ONE STEP FORWARD: NDI ACTING DEPUTY RE-REGISTERED BY TAJIK

UNCLAS DUSHANBE 000306 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR P, SCA, EUR NSC FOR MILLARD, MERKEL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM TI SUBJECT: ONE STEP FORWARD: NDI ACTING DEPUTY RE-REGISTERED BY TAJIK GOVERNMENT ¶1. As First Deputy Foreign Minister Yatimov categorically promised the Ambassador February 14, the Tajik Government re-registered National Democratic Institute (NDI) Acting Deputy Director Nurul Rakhimbekov February 15, the last possible day before his legal status would have lapsed. ¶2. DCM accompanied Rakhimbekov to the Ministry of Interior's Office of Visa and Foreign Registration (OVIR) for another round of haggling and urgent calls to the MFA. A cordial meeting with the Lt. Colonel in charge produced no result, and the NDI/Embassy delegation was turned away in the morning. DCM received a call from the Lt. Colonel in the early afternoon, with news that the problem had been solved, and expressing thanks for all of the humanitarian and development assistance provided by the United States. Foreign policy is probably out of the Lt. Colonel's usual realm of responsibility, so we assume that he was passing on these good wishes on behalf of the MFA. After a subordinate mistakenly prolonged Rakhimbekov's registration for only one day, the documents were finalized with the usual three-month extension, allowing Rakhimbekov, a Kazakh citizen, to reside in Tajikistan as a private citizen until at least May. ¶3. DCM informed OVIR that NDI Acting Director Gegham Sargsyan would return at the end of the month to be re-registered, as the Ambassador had likewise agreed with Yatimov. The Lt. Colonel foresaw no problem. The meeting ended on a good note, with the Lt. Colonel bragging about his son's computer and English skills, and the DCM offering to speak with his son if he would like to practice his English. "Umed" has the DCM's cell phone number and will no doubt be calling soon. ¶4. COMMENT: Keeping the Government of Tajikistan's open-door foreign policy relatively balanced sometimes takes intense Embassy effort and personal intervention. NDI has been one of our hardest cases. We believe the first sign of break-through came February 2 when Yatimov admitted to the Ambassador the NDI issue is "political," not "legal-technical." The next step is to get Sargsyan re-registered. He is, ironically, currently in Poland leading a political study tour for members of President Rahmonov's Peoples Democratic Party. END COMMENT. HOAGLAND