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Al-Ahram Weekly 16 - 22 December 1999 Issue No. 460 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 16 - 22 December 1999 Issue No. 460
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Debate Focus Profile Living Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Moscow backtracks on ultimatum
By Abdel-Malek Khalil
The world was shocked to learn of last week's Russian ultimatum to the estimated 50,000 civilians trapped in the besieged Chechen capital Grozny to "leave or face death". Russian planes showered Grozny with leaflets earlier this week saying that a safe corridor would be open for civilians to leave, and that anyone left in the city after Saturday would face a massive air and artillery attack. Meanwhile, Russian warplanes and artillery continued to bombard Grozny and surrounding towns this week making it virtually impossible for trapped civilians to leave the city.
The leader of the neighbouring Russian autonomous republic of Ingushetia, Ruslan Aushev, estimated last weekend that there were 50,000 civilians still trapped in Grozny, most of them "helpless old people and women with children", unable to escape the city.
In Brussels, the European Union foreign ministers issued a strongly-worded statement on Monday cautioning Moscow that its military campaign "and the unacceptable threat to the people of Grozny can only perpetuate, not break, the cycle of violence in the Northern Caucasus".
The Chairman of the 54-nation Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Knut Vollebaek, similarly denounced Russian moves to crush the Chechen people, and warned that the massive Russian air and artillery strikes might achieve "a short-term victory" but the conflict will not be resolved by military means. "I hope, of course, that the Russians will not carry out the threats that they have made," Vollebaek told reporters at the United Nations.
But perhaps the harshest criticisms came from Britain and America. In London, the British Foreign Office summoned the Russian Ambassador Yuri Fokine on Tuesday to protest the Russian ultimatum. Fokine was told "in no uncertain terms" of British disapproval of the planned massive air and artillery attack on Grozny.
In the United States, President Bill Clinton on Monday warned that Russia "will pay a heavy price" if it doesn't reverse course in Chechnya.
But a few countries still staunchly support Moscow's Chechen strategy of containment. During a visit by Russian President Boris Yeltsin to China, Beijing reconfirmed its pro-Moscow line. "The Chinese government understands and supports the efforts made by Russia to maintain its national unification and territorial integrity," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said in Beijing on Tuesday. "China's principled stand is very clear. We think that the Chechnya issue is the internal affair of Russia. And I think that most countries in the world have already acknowledged this fact," she added.
"It was our ultimatum to the bandits, and a warning to civilians, so they could leave the city," Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said during a visit to the former Soviet Central Asian Republic of Uzbekistan last Saturday. "We gave a warning and created conditions for innocent civilians to leave," Putin explained.
The first deputy of Russia's General Staff, Maj Gen Valery Manilov, said on Saturday that Russian forces had no intention of storming Grozny or razing it with massive air and artillery strikes as it had appeared to be threatening earlier. The Russian military also seem to be careful to avoid a repetition of the catastrophic military disaster of the bloody 1994-96 Chechen war during which it engaged in pitched battles with Chechen separatists in Grozny, resulting in heavy casualties among Russian troops. "That would be an intolerable cost to the Russians, one that Moscow is anxious to avoid," a military officer told Al-Ahram Weekly, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Russian Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu flew to the Caucasus region on Saturday to help arrange safe passage for refugees from Grozny. Shoigu indicated that he was prepared to negotiate with Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov. "I am ready to meet anyone, even a demon or the devil. Maskhadov, if you are a man, let the people go." Moscow has no intention of bowing to Western pressure to moderate its aggressive campaign against Chechen separatists in the breakaway republic.
There are growing signs that the Kremlin wants to use as fodder a pro-Moscow Chechen militia led by Bislan Gantamirov, a former mayor of Grozny who was serving a prison term for embezzlement before Yeltsin pardoned him recently and named him head of a Moscow-backed Chechen anti-independence government. The Moscow-backed Chechen militia in 1994 was roundly defeated by separatist Chechen fighters. p>
