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| Caucasus |
| Some Chechens Surrender Arms Before Vote |
| 2003-03-22 |
| Dozens of Chechen rebels surrendered their weapons Saturday in a ceremony apparently designed to promote harmony in the war-ruined region on the eve of a constitutional referendum. Russian and pro-Moscow Chechen officials looked on as 46 rebels put down their weapons in Grozny. All 46 will be exempt from criminal prosecution. The ceremony came a day before the region was to vote in a constitutional referendum that Moscow has advertised as the key to peace in Chechnya. Russian officials want to show Chechnya is on the path to normalcy after nearly a decade of war or lawlessness. Which is something the turban and automatic weapons set can't let happen, so... Meanwhile, violence continued in the region, killing at least two people Saturday. An armored personnel carrier exploded on a land mine in the capital, Grozny, killing a soldier and a civilian in a passing car. Two soldiers and two civilians were wounded. Grozny's Hospital No. 9 confirmed that one civilian, the man driving the passing car, died of his wounds and that two women riding with him were injured. Russia's TVS television reported four military checkpoints in Grozny's Staropromyslovsky district had been fired on overnight, but gave no word on casualties. That's the same tactics the Kashmir jihadis used to try to delegitimize the vote there last year... However, officials said the region was ready for the vote. "Nobody plans to initiate any emergency measures — no curfew or anything else," Chechnya's Moscow-appointed prime minister, Anatoly Popov, told TVS. "We can attend to that later..." Kadyrov vowed the referendum would be a success. "The people themselves want it," the ITAR-Tass news agency quoted him as saying at a soccer tournament in Grozny dubbed the "Chechnya Revival Cup." Sunday's vote will ask Chechens to approve a new constitution that cements the region's status as part of Russia. The Kremlin says it is the beginning of a peace process, but critics say it cannot replace negotiations with rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov, who was elected Chechnya's president in 1997. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |