Committee for Conflict Transformation Support |
CCTS
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Chechnya: Theatre of Terrorby Chris Hunter and Adam Berry, Centre for Peacemaking and Community Development (CPCD) Senior Russian politicians have used the events of 11 September to reinforce their message that in Chechnya they are fighting and destroying terrorists and that this should be seen as part of the West's drive against international terrorism. The brutal war unleashed in Chechnya in October 1999 is thus euphemistically termed an 'anti-terrorist operation' by the Russian government. Spurious references to a large Chechen al-Qaeda contingent in Afghanistan have been followed by the portrayal of the Moscow theatre hijacking as 'Russia's 11 September', supporting an alleged equivalence between Chechens and terrorism. The Moscow theatre siege and the targeting of civilians cannot be condoned, but must be understood in the context of Russia's terroristic and cruel campaign in Chechnya, in which over 100,000 civilians have lost their lives in recent years. The desperation of the young men and women who committed the Moscow theatre siege needs to be considered. Unless the situation is resolved in Chechnya, other such desperate acts are likely to follow. Russia's campaign in Chechnya is far from driving terrorism out of the region. On the contrary, the disempowerment and bitterness that it breeds is forcing ordinary civilians - predominantly young men who have missed out on years of education and lost family and friends - into the arms of the extremists. The second Chechen War began after a series of apartment bombings in Russian cities which killed some 300 people and was immediately blamed, without evidence, on Chechen terrorists. In Russia it is widely considered more likely that the Russian security services were responsible, and evidence was revealed to support this view. Disinformation and anti-Chechen propaganda, accompanied by restrictions on the press - and takeover of independent TV networks - have been a prominent feature of the conflict which brought Vladimir Putin to power. For the Russians, the war is about reassertion of state power and access to Caspian oil; for the Chechens, the continuation of centuries of resistance to Russian domination. Given the chance, however, the separatists would probably still settle for less than complete independence - as long as its moderate, ex-Soviet leadership lasts. Russia's political elite has been doing much in recent months, however, to discredit and undermine such moderates. International NGOs such as Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights portray the conflict as characterised by the widespread occurrence of war crimes. These crimes include the destruction of civilian areas, torture, collective punishment, arbitrary arrest and detention in 'filtration camps', massacres of civilians, disappearances, extra-judicial killings, rapes, looting, and ransoming of civilian hostages, all carried out with de facto impunity. In regular 'cleansing operations' (zachistki), masked soldiers seal off and search an area, detaining inhabitants - mostly young men. Grozny, a city the size of Edinburgh, has been reduced to rubble. Chechen fighters have also been criticized by human rights organizations, for violations on a smaller scale. Insecurity, and the destruction of housing and infrastructure, have resulted in large numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs). UNHCR estimates that there are some 140,000 IDPs inside Chechnya and 110,000 in neighbouring Ingushetia. Living conditions are disastrous in both republics but, thanks to media and travel restrictions, there are fewer outside witnesses to the situation in Chechnya. The 'successful liberation' of the Moscow theatre might be seen as a microcosm of the Russian strategy for 'liberating' Chechnya itself, where there have been several hollow proclamations of victory since 1999. The indiscriminate use of a mysterious gas, civilian deaths, summary executions of unconscious hostage-takers, rejection of negotiations, and disinfomation about the number and causes of casualties are perfectly consistent with operations in Chechnya. The official figure for military casualties since 1999 is 4,500, but 11,500 according to the Russian Committee of Soldiers' Mothers. There is no official number of civilian deaths; NGO estimates are in the tens of thousands. In Moscow and other cities, Chechens - and others of Caucasian appearance - have long been subjected to discrimination: in a 1999 report, Amnesty International documents police persecution, expulsion of Chechens from Moscow, and denial of registration to those displaced by the conflict. Following the hostage crisis, tensions are heightened: Chechens are being harassed by police, drugs and weapons planted on young men, children excluded from school. Inside Chechnya, the military crackdown has been stepped up and any troop withdrawals cancelled. In a technique copied from Israel, special forces have destroyed the homes of people involved in the Moscow hostage-taking, their relatives given moments to leave. Following the CIA's assassination of terrorist suspects in Yemen, Russia has adopted its own policy of allowing strikes at terrorists abroad which could permit further aerial bombing of Georgia. Contrary to media reporting, however, there is no generalized hatred for Russia among Chechens, who typically differentiate between Russia's leadership and its people - even army conscripts - whom they more often perceive as fellow victims. The situation around Chechnya has similarly become increasingly tense since the Moscow theatre siege. Since the hostage crisis, Russian forces have been stationed around tent camps in eastern Ingushetia, to 'protect' their 17,000 inhabitants. This move, accompanied by the cutting of energy supplies to the camps and the soldiers' indiscipline, has heightened existing fears of forced return to Chechnya. Soldiers temporarily occupied CPCD tents used for psychosocial activities with traumatized children. CPCD has campaigned with friends and partners against the closure of IDP camps and the forced return of some IDPs from Ingushetia to Chechnya. This process began in earnest on 1 December 2002 with the closure of IDP camp 'Iman' at Aki Yurt. Despite assurances from President Ziazikov of Ingushetia, IDPs were forced out of their temporary homes of up to 3 years. The IDPs in the remaining camps in Karabulak, Yandare and Sleptsovskaya number at least 18,000 people. Russian authorities have already ceased distributing food aid in these camps. The threatened closure of these camps on 20 December did not happen, in part due to international pressure, but a new deadline is set for March 2003. Alternative accommodation in Chechnya is to be prepared by then. Many of those evicted from Aki Yurt were not offered alternative accommodation and returned to Chechnya to ruined homes without functioning heating systems in temperatures well below freezing. The majority of those have since returned to the area of the Aki Yurt camp and where possible are living in private dwellings. Most IDPs refuse to return to Chechnya for fears of their security in the republic. The security situation for humanitarian actors in Chechnya and Ingushetia remains unstable. Two representatives of international humanitarian NGOs were kidnapped in the summer: one has yet to be released. A close associate of CPCD, Aslan Akhmadov, was abducted in Nazran in broad daylight on 27 November 2002, but thankfully was released on 4 January 2003. In late November, the UN security agency UNSECOORD passed on information to NGOs of a planned further kidnapping of an expatriate staff member in the region. The theatre hijacking has provided a new opportunity to dismiss the possibility of negotiation with the Chechen opposition leadership, and has derailed existing behind-the-scenes negotiations. Aslan Maskhadov, the moderate president whose election in 1997 was recognized by Russia and the OSCE, has been declared responsible by the Russian president. Maskhadov's envoy Akhmed Zakaev, who recently held talks with Russian representatives, has also been accused of terrorist acts, and detained during a peace conference in Denmark, pending possible extradition. As in Israel, the demonization of leaders and 'absence of negotiation partners' appears to have been endorsed by the USA. The deadlocked war in Chechnya appears set to continue indefinitely, in a global climate where international conventions and human rights concerns are clearly overridden by the security and energy interests of powerful states. International criticism of Russia's methods in Chechnya is set to remain comparatively muted, while President Putin pledges support for the global campaign against terror and complies with US and British actions in Iraq.
The Centre for Peacemaking and Community Development is a British NGO carrying out peacebuilding, humanitarian, psychosocial and educational work in Chechnya since 1994.
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