August 13, 2009
Are Chechen Factions Headed Toward Unity?
by Liz Fuller
Akmed Zakayev, the head of the pro-independence Chechen Republic
Ichkeria, has announced he and an official from the pro-Moscow Chechen
leadership had reached agreement on convening a world congress to
promote the further unity of Chechen society.
The
August 12 statement followed two days of consultations in London
between Zakayev and Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, the parliament speaker of
the Kremlin-backed Chechen Republic.
The two sides first
embarked on consultations two months ago in hopes of achieving such a
rapprochement between the pro-Moscow Chechen leadership and the
representatives in exile in Europe of the Chechen Republic Ichkeria,
against which Russia launched two successive wars, in 1994 and 1999.
Two
previous rounds of talks took place in Oslo, mediated by Norwegian
businessman Ivar Amundsen, who heads the London-based Chechnya Peace
Forum. Amundsen described the second round of talks, which took place
in late July, as "a very constructive and positive dialogue" that the
two sides hoped would lead to the "reshaping of the political stability
of Chechnya.”
Both Zakayev and Abdurakhmanov gave
a positive assessment of this week's talks in London. Zakayev described
them as "very good." At the same time, he noted that "this is only the
beginning," and expressed the hope that the next round will be franker
and more open.
Abdurakhmanov, who says the entire consultation
process was initiated by Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov with the full
support of Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin, denied that there were any "difficult aspects" to the
talks.
Neither Zakayev nor Abdurakhmanov disclosed what specific
issues they discussed in London. They have not said whether
representatives of the armed resistance headed by Doku Umarov have
been, or will be, invited to join the dialogue.
Nor is it
clear whether, and to what extent, the talks can contribute to
stability as long as resistance fighters continue their attacks on
police and government officials across the North Caucasus.
Just Good PR?Umarov
said in a recent interview he would not trust any peace overture from
Moscow. And resistance fighters have ignored Zakayev’s appeal to cease
as of August 1 any offensive operations against pro-Moscow Chechen
police. Abdurakhmanov on August 12 dismissed that appeal as "purely
symbolic."
Similarly unclear is the agenda for the planned world
congress and what it might achieve. Zakayev told RFE/RL's Russian
Service on August 12 that he is certain the resolutions the congress
will adopt will have a positive impact, and that otherwise the Russian
and Chechen governments would not have agreed to convene it.
Abdurakhmanov,
by contrast, said that while the Chechen government and Chechen society
will follow the congress proceedings with great interest, the Chechen
leadership will not be obliged to act on all its recommendations.
That
formulation suggests that the Chechen Republic leadership may view the
planned congress merely as a grandiose public relations exercise
intended to underscore that, as Abdurakhmanov said August 12, "There is
an understanding in Chechnya that the people are united and the people
have one national leader, and that is Ramzan Kadyrov.”
RFE/RL
North Caucasus Service Director Aslan Doukaev, who attended the London
consultations, similarly thinks that the "negotiating parties have
different, perhaps even antithetical agendas."
He says the
pro-Kremlin organizers of the congress "will probably attempt to run
the Kadyrov policies in Chechnya up the flagpole and see who salutes,"
while Zakayev "will attempt to draw attention to the Chechenization of
the conflict that increasingly resembles stage one of a civil war."
Doukaev
stresses the Kadyrov regime's urgent need for a public relations
success following a series of murders of human rights activists in
Chechnya that have triggered widespread condemnation in the West.
“Kadyrov
has a serious image problem in many parts of the world because, among
other things, his critics have a tendency to turn up dead," Doukaev
said.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty © 2009 RFE/RL, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.rferl.org/content/Chechen_Factions_Agree_To_Convene_World_Congress/1799178.html
