From: MSN NicknameEagle_wng  (Original Message)    Sent: 7/16/2006 10:38 PM
Chechen rebels offer peace
From correspondents in Moscow
July 15, 2006
This article from : Agence France-Presse
CHECHNYA'S rebels are ready to drop their independence bid in exchange for peace, a senior representative said, as Russia offered an amnesty Saturday. However the radical wing of the guerrilla movement showed no sign of agreeing.
Akhmed Zakayev, the fugitive rebel government's foreign minister, wrote in an appeal to the Group of Eight leaders meeting in Saint Petersburg, that the people of Chechnya had always wanted independence.
But if "some other solution can be found to the problem of peace with the Russians... then we are ready for the necessary negotiations," said Zakayev, who won asylum in Britain, in the statement seen Saturday on two rebel websites - www.chechenpress.info and www.daymohk.info.
"We acknowledge that the continuing of military action and violence will not lead to resolution of the conflict. Therefore we declare that negotiations with Russia should begin without preconditions of any sort on both sides," Zakayev added.
The head of Russia's FSB secret services, Nikolai Patrushev, declared a two-week amnesty for guerrillas, saying the killing of top Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev, announced July 10, had opened the way to peace.
Patrushev promised in a televised statement to "guarantee objective and unprejudiced" treatment for fighters laying down their arms.
He said that Basayev's death brought "a chance for all who have not yet returned to peaceful life. This chance must be used in order to avoid new, senseless victims."
However, the radical wing of the Chechen rebels, epitomised by Basayev before his death in a huge explosion near Chechnya, showed no sign of softening resistance.
The website www.kavkazcenter.com, which often promotes the more radical rebel elements, issued a scornful response to Patrushev.
"The statement by the FSB boss does not merit attention. Against a background of boasts about the complete destruction of the Mujahedin already some years ago, and the long-ended war, it is rather strange to call on anyone to lay down arms."
Significantly, the website made no mention of Zakayev's statement.
Caucasus analyst Yulia Latynina said the latest peace moves were unlikely to change the situation in Chechnya, where Russian troops face a much reduced, but still deadly guerrilla force in the second war fought in a decade.
"Zakayev doesn't control the situation," she said, noting that the former rebel president Aslan Maskhadov had also offered unconditional peace talks before being killed in 2005. "No one took any notice."
It was also unclear how many guerrillas would be tempted by the amnesty offer. Thousands have previously switched sides to join the paramilitary units commanded by Moscow's strongman in the region, Ramzan Kadyrov.
However, a steady trickle of young men has continued in the other direction to fight the Russians, either for Chechen independence, or out of revenge, or, in some cases, under the influence of radical Islamist ideology.
An important factor now could be the position taken by the latest rebel president, Doku Umarov, who is thought to be directing attacks from secret strongholds in the Caucasus mountains.
Umarov only took over after the killing by Russian forces of his predecessor Abdul-Khalim Saidullayev on June 17 and he has yet to make a mark.
He has the reputation of being an experienced guerrilla commander, but has indicated that he rejects Basayev's embrace of terrorism.
Umarov said in a separate statement published Saturday on www.chechenpress.info, that despite Basayev's death, "The war continues and, with the help of Almighty Allah, we intend to reach the victory in which we have not doubted one minute."
Chechnya, a tiny territory in Russia's Caucasus mountains, declared independence in 1991 during the dying days of the Soviet Union.
Moscow's two wars to regain control have led to the deaths of as many as 100,000 civilians out of a population of one million and, according to official figures, 10,000 Russian soldiers. Almost the entire economic infrastructure and the capital city Grozny have been destroyed.
http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/story/0,20797,19803973-954,00.html#