Wednesday, 06-Oct-1999 12:50PM
Story from AFP
by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
MOSCOW, Oct 6 (AFP) - Muslim extremists from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Kuwait and Palestine are ready to join the ranks of Chechen rebels in waging a "holy war" against Russia, the Vremya daily reported Wednesday.
According to the newspaper, one of the Chechen guerrilla leaders, Jordanian-born Khattab, recently launched an appeal on Arab television for volunteers to reinforce the Chechen forces.
A hundred people have already applied for visas at the Georgian embassy in Turkey, according to the Russian security services, cited by Vremya. Georgia borders Chechnya and this frontier is not under Russian control.
The Sevodnya daily reported that some Arab mercenaries had already made it to the military bases of Khattab and Shamil Basayev, the leader of Chechnya's Islamic rebels who invaded Dagestan in August and September.
Extremist organisations in Azerbaijan have "mobilised" to support the Chechen Islamists, Sevodnya also reported, citing the Russian intelligence services.
"The real war in Chechnya has not yet begun despite the capture of a third of the territory," the daily commented.