CHECHNYA LINKS LIBRARY

Clashes between government forces and guerrillas now more frequent in Chechnya

By Ruslan Isayev

CHECHNYA – Chechen government forces have been increasingly active in the republic’s mountain regions since the beginning of this year, performing the task of finishing off the guerrillas as soon as possible. The Chechen government has even set a deadline for the commanders of all military units: the process is to be completed by the end of February.

The government forces are particularly active in the mountainous Vedensky and Nozhay-Yurtovsky districts, but operations are underway also in the Urus-Martanovsky and Achkhoy-Martanovsky districts, although these are not being advertised much.
 
This activity by government forces is provoking a retaliatory response from the guerrillas, though they are waiting out the winter in their dugouts and are therefore reluctant to disclose the location of their hiding places, as this would be disadvantageous to them. The government forces who are trying to oust or neutralize them obviously realize this, and the recent fighting in Tsa-Vedeno, Gordali, Bas-Gordali and Mesedoy is a clear demonstration of it.

But the guerrillas in the mountains do not appear to be worried. A resident of the village of Khatuni, Vedensky district, told Prague Watchdog’s correspondent: "They can visit the village in the evenings and do as they like. In our village, the sale of alcoholic liquor stopped long ago, and so if people want to put vodka, brandy or wine on the festive table they have to travel to Shali and bring it back from there. People are afraid of the guerrillas, who are capable of getting angry and burning down the homes of those who sell alcohol," the man said.

For several months now a search has been on in the Urus-Martanovsky and Achkhoy-Martanovsky districts of Chechnya for guerrilla leader Dokka Umarov, who, according to police, does not spend two nights in the same place. The village of Goy-chu (Komsomolskoye) in Urus-Martanovsky district is now experiencing a second week of night-time house-to-house checks by security forces looking for "unreliable" residents. A few days ago a reconnaissance unit very nearly caught two young men from the village who may have been supplying food to the guerrillas. Both men managed to escape and now the soldiers, while trying not to reveal their own location, are intensively watching all roads and tracks leading from the forest to the village.

The intensifying confrontation between guerrillas and federal servicemen has coincided with the cheremsha [wild garlic]-ripening season. Cheremsha is traditionally picked and gathered by villagers in the mountains and mountain foothills. Now few will dare to risk going into the forest, lest they be accused of collaborating with the resistance or being members of it, or quite simply murdered.
 

(Translation by DM)

(T)

  RELATED ARTICLES:
 · Is the war in Chechnya over? (PW, 19.9.2007)
 · Is the war in Chechnya "over" again? (PW, 11.7.2007)
 · Situation in Chechnya heating up again (PW, 5.7.2007)