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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Local Elder of Islam to succeed Maskhadov |
| 2005-03-10 |
| The son of slain Chechen rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov said Wednesday a little known warlord, who once headed the Supreme Court in the breakaway Caucasus republic, likely would succeed his father. Anzor Maskhadov, who lives in the Azerbaijan capital, said the slaying of his father by Russian forces on Tuesday would only make the decade-long Chechen insurgency stonger. "The spirit of the people is invincible. There is no empire that could conquer our spirit," he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. While the senior Maskhadov was respected by some European mediators as a possible negotiator, his death left the insurgency largely in the hands of Shamil Basayev, the most brutal of the Chechen warlords. Basayev has claimed responsibility for a string of terror attacks, including the terrifying school hostage-taking in southern Russian in September in which more than 330 were killed, about half of them children. Maskhadov's son, however, said that according to a 2002 agreement between Maskhadov and other Chechen leaders, Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev, former head of Chechnya's Supreme Court, would be the next leader. Sadulayev headed the court — known in Chechnya as the Islamic Court — when the region enjoyed two years of de facto independence from 1996-1998 and a respite between its two wars of independence against Moscow. Sadulayev's appointment will be formally announced Thursday by Umar Khambiyev, Maskhadov's spokesman who is believed to live abroad, according to Anzor Maskhadov. He said that Sadulayev had remained in Chechnya to continue the fight against Russia, thus bolstering his credentials. "Our leader must remain on the territory of the Chechen republic," the son said. Maskhadov's son insisted that Sadulayev would remain patient and continue the Chechen struggle for independence. "A year ago, my father said that if he were killed, a new president would be a person resembling him," the son said. "It will be a moderate and patient person, and he will continue our course." Maskhadov was regarded by some observers as comparatively moderate, in contrast to Basayev, an adherent of the strict Wahhabi sect of Islam which has its roots in Saudi Arabia and is the doctrine that inspires al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Anzor Maskhadov said his father was a "noble, honest, and brave man" who sought to negotiate peace with the Russians. He blamed the Russian authorities for stonewalling his father's attempts to help find a peaceful way out of September's school hostage-taking and ignoring Maskhadov's latest ceasefire proposal last month. As Chechnya's military commander, Aslan Maskhadov organized a ragged group into a powerful force that fought the Russian army to a standstill — a stinging setback for Russia's vaunted military. But as Chechnya's president, his control over fighters shrank and the insurgents provoked a new war with Russia that drove him from power. A temporary cease-fire called by Maskhadov expired late last month on the 61st anniversary of the Stalin-era mass deportation of Chechens to the barren steppes of then-Soviet Central Asia in 1944 because the Soviet dictator feared they supported Nazi Germany. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #3 "now both sides of the Chechen war are at the hands of absolutely murdererous and unscrupulous sons-of-bitches."> Aris Katsaris Dittos |
| Posted by: Groluck Thrutle8331 2005-03-10 10:03:28 PM |
| #2 And the Russians can hunt down and take out the real players without breaking any "peace talks". What peace talks? Russia barely accepts the concept of peace talks when discussing her invasion of Moldova and Georgia, and you'll think they'll accept even the concept of such "peace talks" (whether in quotes or without them) within Russian Federation soil? The concept of "peace talks" with the Chechens is itself offensive to the Kremlin, as it implies there are two legitimate sides which can make peace or wage war -- it also implies the Chechen people are an entity that can be given the respect of an equal. So you can be damn sure the Russians will *try* to break any "peace talks" with any Chechen that opposes Russian control of Chechnya, whether peacefully or violently -- they will try to break peace talks with even greater urgency than they'll try to take out the "real players". As such, I'm betting that such facts as that Maskhadov presented himself as a rational voice, and ordered a truce, and condemned the murders in Beslan, and asked that Basayev be brought to trial to answer for them -- I'm betting all those things made Maskhadov even more hateful to Russia than Basayev, who actually orchestrated Beslan and similar crimes. But it doesn't matter anymore really -- now both sides of the Chechen war are at the hands of absolutely murdererous and unscrupulous sons-of-bitches. And btw, read the actual text instead of only the first two paragraphs -- you seem to think that Anzor was named as the next leader: what Anzor did was simply name Sadulayev instead. |
| Posted by: Aris Katsaris 2005-03-10 12:48:13 PM |
| #1 just a figurehead puppet - probably for Basayev? Maybe that's as good for us as it is for them. The Russians can allow the Euroweenies to feel they are doing something constructive by having lunch with Anzor. And the Russians can hunt down and take out the real players without breaking any "peace talks". |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-03-10 8:41:58 AM |