The Muslim News

Top Chechen Muslim says peace must involve rebels

09-08-2004

MOSCOW, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Russia's moves in Chechnya to bar rebels from talks and elections are failing to secure peace in the troubled region, a top Chechen Muslim cleric said on Monday.

Mufti Akhmad-Khadzhi Shamayev, spiritual leader of the mostly Muslim region, said rebels must be brought into the peace process if any lasting political solution is to be found.

"It is necessary to recognise that the problems cannot be resolved through force, it is necessary to find peaceful, political methods to pacify Chechnya," he said in a statement.

Shamayev accused Chechen officials of lining their pockets while Russia's forces were committing crimes in a quest to force peace on Chechnya.

"Despite what the politicians tell us, the situation in Chechnya remains tense and battles continue. This is a consequence of a long line of mistakes, bad decisions and even bloody crimes by the authorities," he said.

President Vladimir Putin rules out peace talks with the rebels who have been fighting their rule for a decade, saying they are linked to international terrorists and must be killed.

He says Chechnya is normalising, but servicemen and pro-Moscow police die daily in rebel attacks.

"Putin is doing everything he can, but he needs better helpers, people who speak the truth. He needs to speak to people who live in Chechnya and suffer from the war, not just officials who think only of their pockets," Shamayev told Reuters later by telephone.

As mufti, Shamayev succeeded Akhmad Kadyrov, the pro-Moscow president of Chechnya who was killed in a bombing in May. But Shamayev said many of Kadyrov's officials were corrupt and giving bad advice to the Russian government.

He said elections set for August 29 to replace Kadyrov would never bring peace while rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov and rivals to the Kremlin's favourite candidates were excluded.

"Elections can only be successful if all candidates are allowed to take part," he said.

Maskhadov has denounced the election as a farce, and said his forces will kill whoever wins -- almost certain to be Alu Alkhanov, formerly Kadyrov's interior minister.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L09177435.htm

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