CHECHEN CONGRESS APPROVES KHASAVYURT ACCORDS.

A congress of 300 delegates representing 20 Chechen parties and movements was held in Grozny yesterday to discuss the formation of the provisional government that will administer the republic until elections are organized. (RTR, September 10) There was almost unanimous approval of the Khasavyurt peace accords, signed by Russian presidential envoy Aleksandr Lebed and Chechen chief-of-staff Aslan Maskhadov on August 31. Delegates called for the accords to be strictly observed by all parties and said that it was important that the formerly warring sides not be seen now as "victors" and "vanquished." Chechen president Zelimkhan Yandarbiev announced that three members of the pro-Moscow government of Doku Zavgaev would join the coalition government. But Zavgaev stood aloof, refusing to attend the congress and telling Russian news agencies that no member of his government would enter the Yandarbiev-led coalition which will, according to Zavgaev, consist mainly of "criminal elements." (Interfax, September 10)

Some speakers at yesterday’s congress called for members of the Zavgaev government not to be included in the coalition government, calling Zavgaev’s Moscow-supported leadership "a government of collaborators." Zavgaev responded with a statement, issued in Moscow, in which he accused the Chechen government of operating three "concentration camps" in Grozny, where some 1,000 people are allegedly being detained on charges of cooperating with the Russian authorities. The accusations were immediately denied by the Yandarbiev leadership. (Itar-Tass, September 10)

Lebed and Maskhadov have been invited to Strasbourg to report to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, which will be meeting on September 23-28. (Interfax, September 10)

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