電子書籍

On the Front Lines of Peace: A UN Officer’s Journey Through the Tajikistan War (English Edition)

(著) 登丸求己

作品詳細

[About the Book]

In the midst of civil war, how can people create “peace”?

When diplomacy stalls, ceasefires collapse, and violence becomes part of everyday life—this is the harsh reality the author, a Japanese United Nations civil affairs officer, faced on the ground.

What he experienced during the Tajikistan Civil War was the “front line of peacebuilding” that never appears in the news: negotiations with armed groups, hostage crises, the loss of colleagues, and the internal struggles within the UN itself. It was a world of unimaginable tension and profound human drama.

This book is a firsthand documentary account of how United Nations peacekeeping operations (PKO) worked in post-Soviet Tajikistan—a country that descended into conflict after the collapse of the Soviet Union—to monitor ceasefires, carry out disarmament, and gradually build peace. Through the author’s own experiences, it vividly portrays the realities of peacebuilding: the background of the civil war, the difficulty of peace negotiations, the dangers and decisions faced by UN personnel, the field of humanitarian assistance, and the deeper realization that poverty and inequality lie at the root of conflict.

This is the story of a civil affairs officer who learned, through lived experience, how peace is made—and a valuable record for understanding conflicts that continue somewhere in the world even today.

A compelling and insightful guide for those aspiring to join UN peacekeeping operations, as well as for anyone interested in international cooperation.

［About the Author］
Motomi Tomaru

Born on August 16, 1945 (Shōwa 20), the day after Japan’s defeat, in Xinjing (Changchun) in former Manchukuo; after repatriation, raised in his father’s hometown of Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture.
In July 1968, as a senior student Faculty of Agriculture Tamagawa University, traveled alone to India for thesis research and stayed a month at the OISCA agricultural development project outside Srinagar, Kashmir.
December 1975: Master of Science in Agricultural Economics, specializing in International Development, Oklahoma State University.
1977: Worked for a development consulting firm; stationed in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka for ODA projects; development surveys and implementation supervision.
1980–2001: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Programme Officer, UNDP Resident Representative Office, North Yemen; Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP Resident Representative Office, Somalia; Regional Programme Officer, Regional Bureau for Arab States and Europe, UN Headquarters, New York; Programme management Officer, UN Fund for Science and Technology for Development; Programme Management Officer, Division for private-sector and Science & Technology for Development, Bureau for Policy Support.
1997–98: Sabbatical—Visiting Scholor, Columbia University, New York; concurrently appointed New York Representative of the Foundation for Support of the United Nations（FSUN）.
1999–2001: Seconded to PKO—Civil Affairs Officer, UN Mission of Observers in Tajikistan; Chief, Policy Planning, United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor.
April 2001: Professor, Tamagawa University; taught seminars in International Relations, International Cooperation, International Development, and Intercultural Communication.
Since March 2011: Retired from Tamagawa University; since then has run the Global Citizens Peace Workshop, providing outreach classes primarily for elementary through university students.