Tajikistan is a tough place to live for its 6.5 million people.
They’ve just been through one of their severest winters, facing flooding and landslides, prompting the UN to launch an appeal for humanitarian help.
Then spring arrived and so did an invasion of locusts.
It’s also a tough place to work, as a Tearfund partner will testify.
The former republic of the Soviet Union has told one of our partners, which we cannot name for security issues, that it must suspend all operations for three months.
This means projects involving people with disabilities and those living with HIV have been halted.
The suspension has also put a stop to work on drug addiction rehabilitation and enterprise development.
Displeasure
The frustrating factor is the partner doesn’t know why it has incurred the displeasure of the authorities and there are fears the suspension could become an outright ban.
Tearfund’s Mike Buckley said, `The government seem to be doing this to a number of organisations. They were all forced to re-register a year or so ago in quite a complicated manner.’
Insiders suggest that Tajikistan’s attitude to outside agencies is guided by different parts of the state apparatus.
The security forces are regarded as hostile to foreign charity and voluntary organisations.
However, the foreign ministry likes them and wants them to continue their work.
The big worry is that Tajikistan, which is mainly Islamic, follows the example of its neighbour, Uzbekistan, and removes all Western organisations from the country.
• Please pray that our partner has its permission to operate restored soon and that the suspension does not harm the people it is working with.
• Tajikistan is one of the poorest central Asian states and has gone through civil war since independence 17 years ago as well as the challenges of natural hazards. Please pray for its people and their leaders.