Chechnya: Not All Around the Table

Hopes that the various sides in the Chechnya conflict would use a recent international round table in Strasbourg to begin discussions with each other were dashed when both representatives of the rebel government and key human rights activists decided to stay away.

Convened under the auspices of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, PACE, the round table went ahead as scheduled on March 21. Officials from both Chechnya and Russia were present, along with representatives of various independent public institutions and around 40 invited experts. But the absence of any members of the rebel Chechen leadership undermined its credibility from the outset.

"We had hoped to create an atmosphere for discussions," said Andreas Gross, the PACE rapporteur on Chechnya and one of the organisers of the round table.

However, before his death on March 9, the rebel president Aslan Maskhadov had spoken out against the meeting. "Citizens of Chechnya trained by the [Russian] Federal authorities, traitors and betrayers will participate in this round table.... A few cowardly deputies from our parliament will also be among them," he predicted in an interview published on the rebels' Daimokhk website.

In the event, none of those on Maskhadov's list attended and his envoys in Europe also stayed away. It is unclear whether Moscow wanted Chechen rebel politicians who are prepared to renounce talk of independence to attend.

Details of Moscow’s negotiations with PACE about how these talks would work had not been made public, but the European body had agreed to Russia's main requirement: that only those who publicly reject terrorism and do not question the Russian state's integrity could attend. Moreover, Russian insistence that separatists could only attend as private citizens, not as a delegation, made it impossible for the two sides to operate on an equal footing within the forum.

Gross visited one of Maskhadov's representatives in London, but failed to persuade him to attend. The deputy foreign minister in the separatist government, Usman Ferzauli, told the Russian Gazeta.ru website that he had not received instructions from Abdul-Khalim Saidulayev, who became the separatists’ acting president after Maskhadov's death.

The late president's plenipotentiary representative, Akhmed Zakayev, told the Kommersant newspaper that the breakaway government is not ready to move forward with peace initiatives in the wake of his killing.

In an open letter to PACE Secretary General Bruno Haller, three leading Chechen human rights activists explained that they saw little point in attending a round table without "delegated representatives of the resistance forces".

"The dialogue needs to be between the belligerents themselves. That means between the Russian leadership and the leadership of the Chechen Republic," they wrote.

The activists, Ruslan Badalov, Libkan Bazayev and Doku Itslayev, pointed out that they had taken part in similar hearings two years ago, held within the framework of a commission linking the Russian parliament and PACE.

Seemingly irritated by their intervention, Gross noted that the activists "have not learned new methods of communication", an apparent reference to their choice of an open letter instead of email.

During the discussions, it was clear that representatives of Chechnya’s official, Moscow-backed government were following the line laid out by Chechen president Alu Alkhanov in an interview before his departure for Strasbourg.

He said the delegation would use the round table to discuss "the resolution of economic and humanitarian issues in the republic", since the republic’s future direction and status is already an established fact.

A few interesting ideas were presented by other participants. The International Helsinki Federation representative, Tatyana Lokshina, proposed declaring a state of emergency in Chechnya. In her view, the conflict would then become the direct responsibility of the Russian government.

"In that way, EU and OSCE representatives could be invited to Chechnya to monitor the situation, thereby enabling people to express their will more openly," she said.

Yves Cohen, director of the Cultural Centre in Paris, expressed regret that no rebel representatives had attended the meeting. "It is a pity that part of the Chechen public are not represented, and that Russia does not wish to see them represented," he said.

Before leaving the meeting in protest, he added, "The Russian side's faith in the discussion process was clearly demonstrated when Maskhadov was killed."

As a compromise, the author of this article proposed holding parliamentary elections in Chechnya, with the condition that separatist politicians including the radical leader Shamil Basayev should be allowed to take part. The Kremlin would first need to fully rehabilitate such figures and transform Chechnya’s political system from a presidential to a parliamentary one.

Closing the discussions, Gross said the various proposals would be discussed, and a further round table held on that basis. A date will be set at the PACE session in April.

As the meeting was closed and press attention focused on what the official participants had said, the voices of the few representatives of Chechnya's independent public institutions passed unnoticed.

Bolstered by the absence of the separatists, Alkhanov commented, "In general, I got an agreeable feeling that we [Europe and Chechnya] are moving a bit closer together."

Others may beg to differ. "The only significant decision to be made there was whether such round tables will be held in the future, or if this will be a stillborn baby," said Lokshina. In her view, the only positive outcome of the round table was a better awareness that further talks will only be viable if a wider circle of actors are able to attend.

Gross agreed, but stressed that the existence of such a forum was itself a positive development. "There may not have been full representation at this meeting, but different people had the opportunity to speak," he said, adding that he hopes that Zakayev's representatives will agree to attend the next event.

A view borne out by Satsita Isaeva, chairwoman of the Chechen Council of Non-Government Organisations. "Meetings like these are not about victories or defeats. This was just an opportunity for opponents to meet and to talk. I would say that Zakaev's absence is less a protest than an indication that they don't have a concrete position; that they are not ready to make any kind of statement," she said.

Timur Aliev is IWPR coordinator in Chechnya.