FIGHTING CONTINUES IN CHECHNYA.

Notwithstanding President Boris Yeltsin’s announcement of a cease-fire as of March 31, Russian forces continued bombing and shelling Chechen villages in the western Achkhoy-Martan district and the southeastern Nozhay-Yurt and Vedeno districts. The commander of Russian forces in Chechnya, Lt. General Vyacheslav Tikhomirov said — fully consistent with Yeltsin’s decree — that operations against the "bandit formations" (Moscow’s name for Chechen resistance forces) would continue. In Moscow, most reformers described Yeltsin’s decree and settlement plan as too little, too late. The Duma’s dominant Communists, however, cautiously welcomed Yeltsin’s initiative and promised to cooperate with the president. (Itar-Tass, Interfax, NTV, Western agencies, April 1)

Tatarstan’s President Shaimiev Offers to Mediate Chechen Negotiations.