United Nations Mission of Observers in Tajikistan to monitor the peace and demobilization. The mission was headquartered in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Tajikistan was in a state of political turmoil for months after the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic declared independence from the Soviet Union in September 1991. The United Tajik Opposition, an alliance of democratic, liberal and Islamic forces were able to take power in mid-1992 for a short time, after which Emomali Sharipani Ramona's government forces were able to regain control militarily. According to the United Nations, "by mid-1993, in a country of under 6 million, an estimated 50,000 people, mostly civilians, had been killed, some 600,000 had
Tajikistan–Uzbekistan relations the Axis powers during World War II resulted in a reaction from Soviet authorities which included population transfers that brought Caucasians to Central Asia. Both republics participated in the referendum in March 1991 in an attempt to preserve the Soviet Union in a different form, but was soon hampered by the attempted coup in August of that year. As a consequence, both Uzbekistan and Tajikistan declared their independence in the months of 1991 and became members of the Commonwealth of Independent States, in which officially gave way for the dismemberment of the Soviet Union at the end of the year.