CAUCASUS UNOFFICIAL BODY REEMERGES, BACKS ABKHAZIA.

On September 23 and 24 The Confederation of the Peoples of the Caucasus held a leadership conference in the Kabardino-Balkar republic’s capital Nalchik to denounce "Russian support for Georgia’s aggressive policy." Claiming that Georgia was preparing a military operation to reincorporate Abkhazia, the CPC called on the peoples of Russia and Georgia to prevent a new war in Abkhazia and South Ossetia and offered CPC mediation between the conflicting parties. The meeting also called on the peoples of the Caucasus to work out a common position on Chechnya, without intervening in the hostilities there. At the same meeting the organization’s leadership body, which calls itself the CPC parliament, resolved to apply for registration with Russia’s authorities. (14)

The CPC brings together nationally-minded representatives of some 15, mostly Moslem nationalities, mainly of the North Caucasus. It emerged during the final years of Soviet rule and has aimed to pool those peoples’ efforts in seeking independence from Moscow. The organization has, however, repeatedly been diverted from that goal by its involvement in conflicts with Georgia and the ambiguous policy of leader Musa Shanibov. The CPC leaders have long had close ties to Dzhokhar Dudayev and appealed to their peoples to support Chechnya in the early stages of the Russian military intervention, but the widely expected support failed to materialize, suggesting that the CPC’s strength had been overrated.

Baikonur Leased.