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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 Nov. - 1 Dec. 1999 Issue No. 457 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 Nov. - 1 Dec. 1999 Issue No. 457
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Chechnya tops OSCE agenda
By Gareth JenkinsChechnya dominated last week's Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) summit in Istanbul, overshadowing the signing of two important security agreements, triggering an abrupt walk-out by Russian President Boris Yeltsin and resulting in the most serious chill in US-Russian relations since the end of the Cold War.
The 18-19 November Istanbul summit brought together leaders from all 54 OSCE member states. Another eight countries sent high-ranking officials as observers, including Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Top of the agenda were the Charter on European Security, which commits OSCE member states to an active role in conflict prevention and the strengthening of democracy in the OSCE area, and an update of the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty, which foresees further reductions in stockpiles of weapons in Europe and allows intrusive inspection and verification.
But the ongoing bloody conflict in Chechnya soon took centre stage. In his address to the summit on 18 November, President Yeltsin angrily rejected international criticism of Moscow's seven-week-old campaign, particularly protests at what appears to be the deliberate targeting of civilians in order to try to force the Chechen authorities to abandon their alleged tolerance of Islamist militants. Over 200,000 Chechens have fled to neighbouring Ingushetia since the fighting began. Yeltsin dismissed suggestions that Moscow should attempt to negotiate an end to the conflict. "Lasting peace in the Chechen Republic and so-called peace negotiations with bandits are not one and the same thing," he declared. "No one should be under any illusion on that score. There will be no negotiations with bandits and murderers!"
In an echo of Russian Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev's accusation earlier this month that the US was deliberately stirring up the conflict in Chechnya, Yeltsin denounced what he termed "intervention" in Russia's internal affairs. "We all know what disproportionate consequences such intervention can have," he claimed. "It is sufficient to recall NATO's aggression spearheaded by the US, against Yugoslavia." US President Bill Clinton retorted that Yeltsin had been quite happy to accept international intervention in Russian internal affairs in 1991, when the West had vigorously supported Yeltsin's defiance of an attempted coup by hard-line communists. At this, a furious Yeltsin snatched off his translation headphones, slammed them on the table and stormed out of the meeting to return to Moscow. US officials tried to play down the incident, insisting that Washington had to maintain a dialogue if it was to exert any influence. "If we want to keep Russia inside the tent, we want to keep talking to them. We want to keep pushing them to observe certain norms of behaviour," said a US official.
Despite the confrontation Russia was one of 30 countries which signed the updated CFE. The observer states also expressed their support for the new CFE. However, Clinton warned that the US would delay ratifying the CFE until Moscow reduced its deployment in the Caucasus, which is in breach of the limits set out in the treaty. "I will only submit this agreement to the Senate for advice and consent to ratification when Russian forces have in fact been reduced to the levels set forth in the adapted treaty," he said. "We've got a lot of turns in the road in Chechnya before it's resolved."
Despite Yeltsin's outburst, Moscow did agree to the inclusion of a vague reference to an OSCE role in settling the Chechen crisis in the declaration issued at the end of the summit. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov grudgingly agreed that his Norwegian counterpart Knut Vollebaek, the current head of the OSCE, could visit Chechnya. Of course, only those territories which are under Russian control. "We don't want him to become a hostage," said Ivanov.
But in the aftermath of the summit there was no indication of when Vollebaek would be able to visit Chechnya or any sign of a let up in the Russian campaign. Russian planes continued to strafe civilian targets in Grozny, while Russian land forces tightened their encirclement of the Chechen capital, in apparent preparation for an assault on the city.
In spite of the tensions, OSCE members nevertheless adopted the Charter for European Security, including a commitment to create both Rapid Expert Assistance and Cooperation teams (REACT), which will be able to respond to member states' requests for civilian and police expertise in conflict situations, and an Operation Centre at the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna to coordinate OSCE field operations.
The Istanbul summit was also the scene for the signing of an agreement to construct oil and gas pipelines from the Azerbaijan capital Baku to the port of Ceyhan on the Turkish Mediterranean coast. The agreement, which was signed by the presidents of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkmenistan, was a policy victory for the US, which has long been keen to free Caspian Sea oil and gas from Russian influence. At present, the only pipelines in the region date back to Soviet times and transit Russia.
