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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Beslan too exhausted for vengeance |
| 2004-10-14 |
| Police in North Ossetia, the Russian region traumatized by the Beslan school siege, played down reprisal fears as mourning drew to a close, while locals thought the shattered community was too exhausted for revenge. As the North Ossetian town of Beslan ends 40 days of mourning for more than 330 hostages killed after Chechen and Ingush rebels seized a school, fears have grown that retribution against their ethnic neighbours is around the corner. But the region's deputy interior minister, Batyrbek Dzutsev, said police had no evidence of any planned revenge and security had been stepped up "significantly" since the siege. "At the moment there hasn't been any information about revenge attacks," he told Reuters on Wednesday. "Of course people are waiting for something after the events." Experts and residents have predicted that a settling of scores, a long-embedded tradition in the region, could escalate into full-scale war. Dzutsev disagreed: "I don't think there will be a war. No one has said they will kill Ingush." He said police were monitoring Ingush settlements in North Ossetia for any signs of trouble and had reinforced checkpoints at the borders with Ingushetia and Chechnya. Ethnic Ingush, around 5 percent of North Ossetia's population, said they were not afraid of being attacked despite a history of bloodshed between the two peoples, which fought a brief conflict over land after the fall of the Soviet Union. "What is there to be afraid of?" said Aishet Aliyeva, who lives with her four children in Kartsa, an Ingush village near Vladikavkaz which still bore scars from the 1992 fighting. "I worry about things like the fact my gas has been cut off. I go into town (Vladikavkaz) as normal —- no one has treated me any differently since Beslan." Historian Peter Kozayev said some sort of retribution was inevitable, but it would not be immediate. "Sooner or later there has to be revenge. I don't think it will be in the next few days or months. The Ossetians are so demoralised that they can't raise themselves to it." Beslan, silent apart from the sound of women wailing for their lost families, marked the end of the traditional 40 days of mourning with services in the newly-dug cemetery and visits to the burnt-out school. Revenge was far from the minds of the mourners. "We should avoid war at all costs because thousands will be like me, without wives and children," said Sergei Urmanov, who lost his family in the siege. Others said those responsible —- the rebels —- had been killed at the end of the siege. "I think we should use our common sense," 17-year-old schoolboy Alik Sardi told Reuters. "Revenge? Who on? There is no one (left alive) to take revenge on and it is not their families' fault." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 Civilized people generally don't rant and rave at the end of a period of mourning. I wouldn't take this Rooters article too seriously. Looks like they were digging for a story. Revenge is sweet, and tradition strong. We'll see what happens. |
| Posted by: Asedwich 2004-10-14 11:15:54 PM |
| #1 40 days of crying and tears abound, would exhaust anyone! Woa tho, when they eventually get their second wind. |
| Posted by: smn 2004-10-14 10:22:44 PM |