SNA CHECHENPRESS, 02/08/09
We offer our readers an interview with the Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeriya Akhmed Zakaev which he gave to the Radio Liberty’s Chechen Service.
Radio ‘Marsho’, broadcast presented by Amina Umarova.
The Ichkerian leadership which is located outside Chechnya for political reasons has taken a decision that starting from 1 August 2009 Resistance fighters should use arms against the Chechen police only as a last resort, in self-defence. Ichkeriya’s Prime Mininster Akhmed Zakaev told us about the circumstances and the reasons of such a decision over the phone from London.
--After the resumption of our consultations with Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov in Olso, we held a joint meeting of the ChRI Parliament and Government in Berlin, with over 30 members of the Parliament and members of the Government present. When I told the participants of that meeting about the results of our consultations in Oslo following a prolonged discussion everyone came to the unanimous opinion that one should use all possible channels of communication with our fighters back home urging them to stop attacking Chechen policemen and use arms solely for self defence, starting from 1 August.
I would like to explain that this was not my personal decision. I do not have any armed units under my command who I could give such an order to. All Resistance fighters today are split into separate groups and they are answerable to their Emirs. Today Zh. Saralyapov is the head of state and the commander-in-chief of the ChRI armed forces. This was why we agreed at our meeting that he would use his mandate to order the head of GS to inform all fighters under his command of this decision. I also informed the media of this resolution after which the media began to circulate wrong information about Zakaev allegedly issuing an order to the Chechen fighters to stop attacking policemen as from 1 August. This was not the case and I have just explained to you the real state of affairs.
I would like to tell you how I see the present situation. As we know people differ from animals by the intellect given to them by the Almighty. They are able to distinguish things that are allowed from things that are not, between truth and lies, between good and evil, between what is harmful and what is useful. They have been endowed with will power to accept the truth and to follow it. The situation which we have in Chechnya today is terrible and distorted and unprecedented in the history of our nation.
The mutual destruction of the Chechens is something that must be stopped immediately. Zakaev mentioned the history of how in Tsarist times a certain Russian general laid the foundations of what later led to the mutual destruction by the Chechens.
-- At the time of the war in the Caucasus there was a Russian general who explained in a letter to the Tsar why he began to form detachments of the Chechen militia. ‘The time will come when thanks to this undertaking the Chechens themselves will start slaughtering each other, while we will be simply watching this from the wings’. Because of the fact that that general still has his followers in the Kremlin two centuries later in the last twenty years the latter have managed to achieve their goal of fuelling up the intra-Chechen armed confrontation.
We are suggesting and we are saying that what is taking place today will one day come to an end because every event and every process come to an end. If, however, having appealed for help to everyone we can think of, we fail to stop our young people who are divided into several groups and who attack each other, kill each other, our people will have no future. Because this fratricidal war destroys the best, the most courageous, the most God fearing young lads – all those who should continue the Chechen line.
Akhmed Zakaev emphasized once again that his contacts with the pro-Russian authorities of Chechnya pursue only one purpose : to put an end to the vainakhs attacking each other.
-- Although politically it is not beneficial for us to admit that the Russian-Chechen war has been transformed into a intra-Chechen war the evil that this mutual destruction between the Chechens brings with it outweighs all considerations of political benefits or disadvantages. This is why we should call a spade a spade and make an effort to stop this process which is so dangerous for our entire nation. This is our goal, this is what we wish for today and this is what formed the basis of our discussions at our joint meeting in Berlin where a decision was taken to publish a corresponding appeal.
So far little has been heard about what the Chechen policemen who are sent into the forests plan to do, following this appeal. The only thing that we hear about are the often repeated orders of Ramzan Kadyrov to destroy not only the Chechen fighters but all those who maintain contact with them. On the other hand, the Chechen fighters who are located in the forests claim that they only take orders from Dokka Umarov. In answer to our question whether the Chechen fighters respect the decisions and appeals of the Ichkeriya authorities Akhmed Zakaev told us the following:
-- Frankly I would reiterate that this is not my decision. There are lots of people who are addressing this issue today – members of the Parliament, members of the Government, representatives of the Chechen fighters abroad. Our duty is to make the first step in this direction through them and with their help because each of our politicians and each member of the military bears responsibility for the past, the present and the future. Each of us who has something to do with the ongoing processes is responsible for this younger generation who have not seen anything but the war. Our common duty is to stop the mutual massacre by the two hostile camps of this generation unleashed by our enemies. This was the underlying reason for our decision in Berlin.
If I had the power to stop this massacre with my command I would do so. But today I would like to appeal to the Chechen fighters and Chechen policemen, using also your radio station, to stop the mutual bloodshed, I would like to explain to them the following. You have been turned into puppets, pitched against each other by our enemies and if you do not stop this evil you would bear full responsibility for this before future generations. I urge you not to use arms against each other, not to search for each other in order to attack each other, not to do each other any harm! Today you act as part of some units or movements but tomorrow, I swear by the Almighty, everything we do today will enter each individual home!
I reiterate : had I the power to stop this evil I would do so. But appealing to our young people urging them to stop this mutual bloodshed, asking them to do so is the duty of every Muslim, every Chechen. So we took our own decision and made our own appeal to stop attacks guided by this duty of ours.
We were in telephone contact with the Chairman of the ChRI Cabinet of Ministers Akhmed Zakaev. He told us about Ichkeriya’s leadership’s decision to urge all Chechen Resistance fighters to use arms against the Chechen police only in self-defence.
(Translated from Chechen).
http://www.chechenpress.co.uk/content/2009/08/06/main01.shtml
