[lbo-talk] Chechnya

[Chris Doss(RJ)]

Chechnya's war on independence
>Nabi Abdullaev: Islamist extremists have hijacked Chechen
>self-governance
>By Ken Gewertz
>Harvard News Office
>Harvard Gazette
>September 29, 2003
>http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/daily/0309/29-chechnya.html
>
>Quagmires come in all shapes and sizes. Russia's version is a small,
>predominantly Muslim province in the northern Caucasus called
>Chechnya.
>
>Fierce fighting between Chechen guerillas and Russian troops has taken
>place in this mountainous area from 1994 to 1996 and again from 1999
>to the present. In recent years the conflict has escalated as
>terrorists and suicide bombers have attacked civilians as well as
>military targets.
>
>Nabi Abdullaev, a midcareer master in public administration candidate
>at the Kennedy School of Government, gave a talk Sept. 24 on the
>Chechen situation. The talk was sponsored by the Caspian Studies
>Program.
>
>Abdullaev, a journalist from Dagestan, which is next door to Chechnya,
>has reported on the Chechen conflict for several Russian and
>international news organizations. In his talk titled "Chechen
>Self-Government: Is Islam an Obstacle?" he described a well-documented
>and disturbing change in the motives and methods of the Chechen
>rebels.
>
>"The first Chechen war, which ended in 1996, was explicitly
>nationalistic," he said. "But since then, Islamist extremists have
>gradually taken over the independence movement. By 1999, when the
>second Chechen war began, the secular agenda had all but disappeared."
>
>According to Abdullaev, the struggle for Chechen independence has been
>transformed into an Islamist jihad as a result of foreign extremists
>infiltrating the movement. One of these was a Saudi-born guerrilla
>leader known as Emir bin Khattab. He and Chechen rebel leader Shamil
>Basayev led an invasion of neighboring Dagestan in 1999, which ended
>the three-year truce with Russia and brought on the second phase of
>the Chechen war. Khattab was killed in 2002.
>
>According to Abdullaev, there is evidence that Arab guerrillas like
>Khattab are at least ideologically linked to the terrorist
>organization al-Qaeda. In 2002, a videotape turned up in Afghanistan
>which showed both Khattab and bin Laden speaking about the Islamic
>holy war against the West. In 1996, Russian police arrested Ayman
>Zawahiri, considered by many to be bin Laden's most important deputy,
>as he tried to enter Chechnya. He was jailed for six months for
>entering the country without a visa.
>
>Perhaps the most dramatic piece of evidence that Islamist extremists
>have taken over the Chechen independence movement came in October
>2002, when Chechen rebels held 800 civilians hostage in a Moscow
>theater. The rebels chose to broadcast their grievances on the Arab
>network Al-Jazeera, which has often aired statements by bin Laden.
>Moreover, the women in the group were shown clad head-to-toe in black
>with only their eyes showing, a style of dress enforced by
>fundamentalist Muslims but entirely foreign to Chechnya.
>
>Russian troops finally ended the hostage crisis by storming the
>theater, resulting in 160 deaths. Abdullaev believes that this
>incident resulted in a loss of sympathy for the Chechen cause.
>
>"Since it has been taken over by Islamists and compromised by
>terrorism, the independence cause has all but lost hope of
>international recognition," he said.
>
>To what extent the Chechen independence movement has been taken over
>by Islamist infiltrators is a matter for debate. After the Moscow
>hostage crisis, Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Al-Qaeda for
>instigating and leading the attack, but others have downplayed the
>influence of Arab leaders.
>
>Writing in the Times of London, Thomas de Waal, Caucasus editor with
>the Institute for War and Peace Reporting and co-author of "Chechnya:
>Calamity in the Caucasus," recognized the signs of radical Islamist
>involvement but said, "it would be a serious mistake to make too much
>of the foreign factor in Chechnya."
>
>It is true, Abdullaev said, that Chechens tend to be clannish and
>independent with little regard for foreigners, and yet, he points out,
>it is hard to ignore the signs of radical Islamist influence in the
>region.
>
>For example, after the first war, the government of independent
>Chechnya abandoned the Latin alphabet and adopted Arabic script. They
>also replaced civil law with sharia, the code of law based on the
>Quran, Abdullaev said. Nevertheless, he believes there is a pragmatic
>basis for such changes.
>
>"The Chechens are not happy with the Arab fighters. They don't love
>aliens. But for those seeking retaliation after suffering abuse by
>Russian troops, the easiest choice is to join the Islamists, because
>that is where they get weapons, money, and protection."
>
>Abdullaev said that large amounts of money are being raised in Middle
>Eastern countries to support the Chechen rebels.
>
>The problem with Chechnya becoming another front in the Islamist war
>against Western secularism, Abdullaev believes, is that it prevents
>the development of an indigenous Chechen elite who would be qualified
>to lead a self-governing Chechnya under Russian auspices. As a result
>of the turmoil in the region, many educated Chechens have left the
>Caucasus to seek a more stable life elsewhere.
>
>"The Chechen elite is not in Chechnya," Abdullaev said. "It's mainly
>in Moscow. But also a considerable part of it lives abroad"
>
>Chechnya, in fact, still suffers from a shortage of human resources
>stemming from the exile of the entire Chechen population to Kazakhstan
>in 1943. Joseph Stalin ordered the exodus because he suspected
>Chechens of sympathizing with the Nazis and exiled even the families
>of soldiers fighting on the Russian front. The Chechens were allowed
>to return to their homeland in 1957, but they were still prevented
>from occupying high managerial positions in the Soviet administration.
>
>Abdullaev believes that the way out of the Chechen quagmire is for
>Russia to help in the development of a Chechen elite that will be able
>to take over the running of the country. Russia has taken steps in
>this direction by drawing up a new constitution that was voted into
>law in a referendum in March 2003.
>
>On Oct. 5, Chechens will vote for a new president. The Russian-backed
>candidate Akhmad Kadyrov is expected to win, and Abdullaev hopes that
>this will help turn the tide against extremism.
>
>"What is needed is a Chechenization of power," he said. "A secular
>government will become effective when it becomes Chechen business."