By Yuri Bagrov The Associated Press, VLADIKAVKAZ, March 18, 2004 -- Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov said Thursday that around 3,000 people have disappeared in Chechnya, where federal forces, Chechen police and rebels have been fighting since 1999 in the second war in a decade.

Kadyrov, speaking at a Cabinet session in Grozny, said the disappearances had occurred over the past few years, Interfax reported.

Reports of disappearances have been widespread in Chechnya, with blame fixed variously on the republic's separatist rebels, the federal soldiers fighting them, and Chechen government forces. Especially feared are so-called "mopping-up operations," in which young men suspected of rebel connections are picked up by soldiers, never to be heard from again, residents and human rights groups say.

In the last 24 hours, 150 people were detained in the sweep operations, an official in the Moscow-backed Chechen administration said Thursday.

Reports have spread of young men vanishing at the hands of a security force run by Kadyrov's son, Ramzan. He has denied the allegations.

"A criminal case must be opened and a detailed investigation must be conducted into every single disappearance," Akhmad Kadyrov was quoted by Interfax as saying.

"If authorities detain someone, this has to be made known to his relatives, who should know why the person was detained, where he is being held and what charges have been brought against him," said Kadyrov, who was a rebel supporter before switching to President Vladimir Putin's side.

In October, Kadyrov won the Kremlin-backed presidential election -- part of Putin's effort to portray the situation in Chechnya as stabilizing. Large-scale battles are rare, but fighting persists.

An official in the Chechen administration, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that seven federal soldiers were killed and seven wounded over the previous 24 hours in rebel clashes and a land mine explosion. Three rebels were also reported killed during an operation in neighboring Ingushetia.

2004-03-18 22:36    

Fewer people kidnapped in Chechnya

GROZNY, March 18, 2004. (RIA Novosti) - Chechen Interior Minister Alu Alkhanov said on Thursday in Grozny at the first session of the Chechen government with new prime minister of the republic, Sergei Abramov, participating, that crimes connected with kidnapping are committed more seldom now.

In comparison with 2003, for the two first months of 2004, the number of kidnaps reduced three-fold, from 69 to 19, Mr. Alkhanov said.

In his words, about 3,000 people are missing in the republic today. Mr. Alkhanov admitted that not only bandits but law enforcement officers are engaged in kidnapping in the republic.

In his turn, Colonel General Valery Baranov, commander of the Joint Group of Forces in the North Caucasus, who took part in the session, said the Chechen interior ministry is being reinforced now.

"Temporary interior affairs offices will be withdrawn from the republic's mountainous regions. Only some experts to render assistance to Chechen policemen will stay there," General Baranov said

Friday March 19, 2004-- Muharram 27, 1425 A.H.

Jang Group of Newspapers

Kidnappings in Chechnya done by law enforcers

MOSCOW: Law enforcement authorities in Chechnya are responsible for many of the kidnappings in Russia's war-torn republic, Chechnya's interior minister admitted Thursday. "Employees of law enforcement agencies often are responsible for the kidnappings," Alu Alkhanov said during a meeting of the Chechen government.

According to Chechen interior ministry figures, 69 people have been kidnapped in January and February of 2004, compared with 19 people during the same period last year, the Interfax news agency quoted Alkhanov as saying.

Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov said that some 3,000 people are officially listed as missing in the Caucasus republic where rebels have been fighting pro-Moscow forces since October 1999, when Russia sent troops at the start of its second war against separatists in the past decade. Russia's respected Memorial human rights group has said that some 477 people were kidnapped in Chechnya during 2003, out of whom 155 were released, 49 have been found dead and 273 are listed as missing.

Memorial says that Russian troops and forces loyal to Kadyrov are responsible for most of the abductions. On Wednesday forces loyal to Kadyrov killed two passersby and critically wounded three others in a shootout in downtown Grozny, witnesses and the pro-Moscow Chechen police said. The incident occurred Wednesday afternoon during "a special operation to stop two young men suspected of trafficking arms," a police spokesman said.

Ekho Moskvy, 18 March 2004 [BBC Monitoring]

Russia: Police believe abducted relief worker still in Dagestan

[No dateline, as received] "The Dagestani law-enforcement bodies are absolutely convinced that Arjan Erkel is alive. Most likely, he is being held in Dagestan," Dagestani Interior Ministry's press chief Abdul Musayev said on Ekho Moskvy radio.

He stressed that the search for Arjan Erkel, the worker of the Medecins Sans Frontieres humanitarian organization who was abducted in Dagestan in August 2002, is not ceasing for a minute. A special investigation team has been set up and the interior minister of Dagestan [Adilgirey Magomedtagirov] regularly hears accounts of the officers engaged in the investigation. Saving Erkel's life is a top priority, and the secret nature of the operation stems from this fact, Musayev said.

"Such cases cannot be solved hurriedly, just by one attack. We must move towards our goal precisely and accurately," he added.

WELCOME TO IWPR'S CAUCASUS REPORTING SERVICE, No. 223, March 18, 2004

CAUCASUS NEWS UPDATE MARCH 18

Putin landslide raises eyebrows

Sharp differences between official figures and reported turnout in the presidential election in the North Caucasus.

By Timur Aliev in Grozny, Laura Magomedova in Makhachkala and Valery Dzutsev in Chermen.

Russia's Central Election Commission says newly re-elected president Vladimir Putin received a massive show of support from the North Caucasus in the March 14 election, but this contrasts sharply with reports from polling stations throughout the region that suggest a relatively low turnout.

Official results say Putin won his biggest successes in the region, polling more than 96 per cent of votes cast in Kabardino-Balkaria, more than 92 per cent in Ingushetia, 91 per cent support in North Ossetia, and 94 per cent both in war-ravaged Chechnya and in Dagestan. These five republics are among the top ten Russian regions that voted for Putin and had the highest recorded turnout in Russia, with all of them including Chechnya, reporting voter participation at around 90 per cent.

However observers and opposition activists - even while conceding Putin's victory - say these figures reflect widespread falsification of the vote. Natalya Mikhailenko, principal campaign manager for the defeated Communist candidate Nikolai Kharitonov in North Ossetia, told IWPR, "People were forced to vote in their workplaces, and we even had a complaint that in a cancer hospital patients' passports were collected from them the day before election day. Despite all the tricks of the authorities, we estimate that in North Ossetia no more than 15 per cent of the population voted, so basically there was no election."

Valery Khatazhukov, director of the Centre for Defence of the Rights of the Population in Nalchik, said that "in Kabardino-Balkaria we estimate that at best half of the population voted".

In Chechnya some rank-and-file members of local electoral commissions admitted that turnout had been very low. "Although the polling station had between 1,500 and 2,000 registered voters, the actual turnout was no more than 15 or 20 per cent," said Fatima Kovrayeva, a member of the local electoral commission of the Oktyabrsky district of Grozny.

"The final figures were sent to us from the Central Electoral Commission, and then we distributed them between the local commissions here," Kovrayeva said. "Members of the electoral commission personally filled out the ballots on Saturday and then put them into the ballot boxes when the observers were, let's say, out for lunch. Anyway, the observers didn't protest too much - they are no strangers here themselves."

Another electoral official, Luisa Isayeva, said, "This was not explicitly stated, but everyone knew that if the turnout was high then the commission members would receive bonuses." Many of those who did turn out to vote were government employees and policemen.

Most Chechens, when asked about the elections, responded with weary indifference or hostility. "We don't consider Chechnya to be part of Russia and we don't want to vote for its president," said a taxi driver in Grozny, Ruslan Jabrailov.

"In short, all Chechens turned out to be masochists - the harder they hit us, the more we love Putin," human rights activist Usam Baisaev commented on the official results.

Across the border in Dagestan, the picture was very different. Here the main observation was how quiet this election was, compared to previous violent polls in this region.

The tone was set by Dagestani leader Magomedali Magomedov in an interview given shortly after polling stations closed, in which he openly expressed the hope that Putin would be re-elected for a second term. "I hope that the political course laid out by Vladimir Putin is continued," said Magomedov. "He is an independent president, who governs the country skilfully and successfully, and if the Dagestani nation supports him, it will be to its benefit."

Unlike in Chechnya, there is also genuine ground-level support for Putin in Dagestan - although some observers cast doubt on the reported 94 per cent turnout figure.

Natalia Kosenko, a 54-year-old history teacher from Makhachkala who voted for Putin, gave three reasons, "Firstly, he appeals to me as a person. Secondly, in the four years that Putin has been in power it has become relatively peaceful here, in Dagestan. You see, they tried to drag us into an internethnic war in 1999, but we received good support from the Russian government. Finally, as a teacher, I can say that I am happy about the policy of paying salaries, benefits, long-service bonuses and pensions on time. For instance, pension rates are adjusted regularly, every six months."

Uma Abdullayeva, a 32-year-old manager at a private travel agency, put the case against Putin, saying that she had supported defeated liberal candidate Irina Khakamada.

"I wanted to remind Putin about democracy," said Abdullayeva. "You can't say that Russian people are not ready for democratic freedoms. You can't, after all, torture people in the sixth police department, as is the common practice here in Dagestan."

In North Ossetia, 250 km to the west, an election is always a bit of a celebration in the village of Chermen. Headmistress Zaya Alagova, chair of one election commission in the village noted with pleasure that this time, with fewer local interests at stake, the election had been very peaceful.

Indeed, the only observers present at the polling station were two Communists sitting peacefully on a bench. During the four hours IWPR spent at the polling station, from noon till 4 PM., only a few dozen voters out of over 2,000 who were registered turned up to vote.

Chermen is a village in the Prigorodny region of North Ossetia, where a conflict between Ossetians and Ingushetians broke out in 1992. The village is still divided into three sectors, two of which are inhabited by Ingush and one by Ossetians. This was the second election since 1992 where both groups voted at the same polling station.

Batyr Nakastakhoyev, a farmer in Chermen who lives in the Ingush part of the village, said he had voted for Putin.

"My life is very difficult right now. I am an honest man, but there is no work, and I can't cheat, so I really hope that Putin will improve the situation during this term," he told IWPR. "Of course, it is wrong that innocent people are dying. Politics is not my strongest point, but the war in Chechnya must, of course, be ended - although even if I have an opinion, it doesn't mean anything. During the time Putin has been in power, relations [between Ossetians and Ingush] have improved in our village. There were no such relations before him."

Two female pensioners who asked to remain unnamed said. "We voted for Kharitonov. Putin is, generally, a good president, too. But he is still linked to the Family [the circle of former president Boris Yeltsin]. Even if he wanted to do anything they wouldn't let him." The official results gave Kharitonov just six per cent of the vote in North Ossetia.

Not everyone wanted to talk so candidly. War veteran Murat first agreed to talk to IWPR, but became confused when asked whom he had voted for - he seemed to be afraid, and first named Putin, then communist Kharitonov, then Putin again and finally said he was in a hurry to get home.

Laura Magomedova is a reporter for Novoe Delo newspaper in Makhachkala, Dagestan. Timur Aliyev is IWPR's Chechnya coordinator. Valery Dzutsev is IWPR's Regional Coordinator for North Caucasus, based in North Ossetia.