DATE=09/30/00
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA/CHECHNYA
NUMBER=5-47095
BYLINE=SONJA PACE
DATELINE=MOSCOW
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: On October 1st, 1999, Russian troops entered Chechnya in what was supposed to be a short term operation to quell an Islamic separatist insurgency. It soon became an all-out offensive to take control of all of Chechnya and reverse a humiliating Russian defeat in the previous Chechen war, which ended in 1996. Now, one year later, the campaign drags on in a costly guerrilla war with no end in sight. VOA's Sonja Pace takes a look at the Chechen conflict in this report from Moscow.
TEXT: It was supposed to be quick and simple. Russian troops would root out Chechen rebels who had attacked villages in the neighboring republic of Dagestan. They would drive them back across the border and set up a buffer zone around Chechnya.
But it hasn't worked out that way. The simple operation has turned into a costly guerrilla war. Thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed, up to 170-thousand Chechens remain in refugee camps, and according to the Council of Europe, up to 18-thousand Chechen civilians are missing.
There are daily reports of attacks, skirmishes or explosions in Chechnya. Between 10 and 20 Russian soldiers die in fighting there every week. One Russian commander described for national television what duty in Chechnya is like for his men.
///ACT OF RUSSIAN COMMANDER, BEGINS IN RUSSIAN FADES TO TRANSLATOR ///
Translation: We control only our shooting area. This is our department, these blocks are ours. That's what we control. But, we don't control the forest, that's theirs (eds. the rebels). And, especially if there is any underground structure we would never go underground, we just explode it and that's it.
/// END ACT ///
The war has reduced cities and towns to rubble and has further devastated an already impoverished region. Duma Deputy Aslambek Aslakhanov represents Chechnya in the Russian parliament. In a telephone interview with VOA he said the situation in his home region has become desperate.
/// ACT OF ASLAKHANOV, BEGINS IN RUSSIAN FADES UNDER TRANSLATION ///
Translation: A lot of villages and towns have been destroyed and people have no place to live. An army of people has become refugees. There are no funds to restore their housing. There is no work to return to. People have nothing to eat, people lack medical care. In fact, there has been no medical care. Disease is now widespread, tuberculosis is especially bad.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Aslakhanov scoffs at the little humanitarian aid being offered to Chechens. He says it is woefully inadequate and often does not reach the people it is intended for.
Russia has come under heavy criticism for allegations its soldiers routinely violate human rights in Chechnya. The director of the Moscow office of Human Rights Watch, Diederik Lohman told VOA the human rights situation remains serious.
/// ACT LOHMAN ///
Some of the main violations that we see are arbitrary detention of mainly Chechen males and ill-treatment of those civilians in police stations and detention centers throughout Chechnya.... Another violation that we see fairly frequently is that Russian snipers and helicopters shoot at basically anything they see move in forests or fields and that is quite problematic because this is harvesting season and Chechen civilians are basically unable to go out on the fields and harvest whatever crop there may be because they risk their lives.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Lohman says Russia has made no progress in investigating human rights violations and has done nothing to stop them. Chechen rebels are also accused of atrocities - murdering local administrators and policemen.
So far, Russian officials have ruled out negotiating with the rebels and rebel leaders have vowed to fight as long as it takes to drive the Russians out. Just a few days ago, however, one senior Russian official said Russian troops could be out of Chechnya by the end of the year with local Chechen police and administrators taking over. Masha Lipman a political analyst at the independent "Itogi" magazine is one of many who doubt that prediction. She says there is no quick and easy solution.
/// LIPMAN ACT ///
I think the only option is to accept that in the Russian territory there will be war, sometimes getting bloodier and more active, sometimes simmering ....but there will be this war, if not forever, than for many, many years now.
/// END ACT ///
Ms. Lipman says the Russian public seems to have accepted this fact and she says there is no great pressure on the government to bring the conflict to an end.
NEB/SP/KBK
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