Rival Rebel Groups Exchange Accusations, Issue Decrees

The Kavkaz-Center website on December 24 posted the text of what it said was an “official statement of the Vakil (head) of the Vekalat of the Caucasian Emirate (the official representation of the Caucasian Emirate abroad) in connection with recent events in the Caucasus and information published in the media.” The statement, signed by Umar Dakaev, said that in connection with “known events in the Caucasus (the proclamation of the Caucasus Emirate, the power struggle in Georgia and in Russia, etc.), various slanderous rumors, lies and disinformation are being spread using the ‘Chechen theme’, which is raised today as a propaganda shield by various groups and entire states.”

Dakaev said that “a Chechen murtad (apostate) Kakiev, who is the puppet leader of a gang called ‘Zapad’ (West),” claimed “Chechen special forces” had entered Abkhazia with intention to fight against Georgia “if needed.” This was a reference to Said-Magomed Kakiev, the former commander of the Zapad special-purpose battalion who is currently Chechnya’s deputy military commissar, who claimed last month that servicemen from the Zapad Battalion and the Vostok Battalion—the other Chechen-manned special-purpose unit of the Russian Defense Ministry’s 42nd Motorized Infantry Division—had been sent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia (Chechnya Weekly, December 20, 2007). Dakaev said of Kakiev’s claim: “Moscow has given maximal publicity to this statement, with the explicit aim of blackmailing, threatening and intimidating Tbilisi. It is clear that the criminal Kremlin regime is prepared to use the ‘Chechen card’ and the so-called ‘North Caucasus volunteers’ for its purposes, in view of the Kosovo problem and in event of a resumption of hostilities between Abkhazia and Georgia. I responsibly declare on behalf of the leadership of the Caucasus Emirate that there are no ‘Chechen special forces’ in Abkhazia, as there are no and will be no ‘North Caucasus volunteers.’ The Caucasian mujahideen will not participate in Moscow’s provocations, and will do everything possible to foil the plans of the Kremlin.”

Dakaev also denounced as “a crude anti-Chechen provocation” an article published in Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper on December 23, which claimed that Georgian authorities were planning to assassinate the Georgian opposition tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili. The article quoted from a purported audiotape of a senior Georgian Interior Ministry official asking Uvais Akhmadov, whom the newspaper described as “a member of a notorious gang of Chechen brothers who specialized in kidnapping and murder,” to kill Patarkatsishvili. According to the Sunday Times, the conversation was recorded by Akhmadov, who despite “his apparent willingness to go along with the plan” decided he “wanted nothing to do with it” and reportedly “tipped off the tycoon’s allies about the tape.”

Dakaev claimed the material featured in the Sunday Times had been supplied to British media by opponents of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. “I officially declare that Uvais Akhmadov is a private person and has nothing to do with either the leadership of the Caucasus Emirate or with the Vekalat (representative office) of CE abroad, or with the Armed Forces or with the special services of the Caucasus Emirate.” Dakaev said in his statment. “Unlike his hero-brothers Akhmadov, who became Shaheeds (inshaAllah) in the Jihad against the Russians kafirs (infidels), Uvais Akhmadov has never been a ‘field commander’.”

Dakaev also charged that Uvais Akhmadov had been “deceived and used” by Akhmed Zakaev, prime minister of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (ChRI)—who, Dakaev alleged, had arranged the meeting between Akhmadov and the senior Georgian Interior Ministry official who asked for Patarkatsishvili to be murdered. Dakaev called Akhmed Zakaev “a private person” and “a refugee” who has “nothing to do either with the Caucasus Emirate or with the former Chechen Republic of Ichkeria or with the mujahideen.” He added that Zakaev’s “activities” are being investigated “by the Mukhabarat (Intelligence Service) of the Caucasus Emirate” and that Zakaev “is accused of dissemination of appeals, in wartime conditions, to disobey authorities of the Caucasus Emirate, as well as for attempts to introduce sedition and disunity among the mujahideen.” Dakaev claimed that Zakaev “organized an illegal group of 5-7 members of the abolished parliament and the Cabinet of Ministers of the ChRI, by which he has tried to do shady deals in the name of ‘the ChRI government in exile’, by spreading lies, slander and disinformation in the mass media.”

Dakaev added: “In this regard, I officially declare that former Internet agencies of the ChRI, ‘Chechenpress’ and ‘Daymohk’, as well as other agencies related to these, have nothing to do either with the Caucasus Emirate or with the mujahideen. Neither the leadership of the Caucasus Emirate nor the mujahideen bear any responsibility for the information aired on these Internet agencies. In addition, Zakaev’s case is being reviewed by the Supreme Sharia Court of the Caucasus Emirate based upon facts of his remarks against Muslims, ridicule of Islam and Sharia and calls to Kufr (disbelief).”

Dakaev’s statement concluded: “I inform all interested parties on behalf of the Caucasus Emirate that the only legitimate authority that represents the Caucasus Emirate abroad is the Vekalat of the Caucasus Emirate. All other organizations, groups and individuals have nothing to do either with the Caucasus Emirate or with the Caucasus or Chechen mujahideen. Any statements or measures taken abroad by anybody on behalf of the command of the mujahideen, the authorities of the Caucasus Emirate or the former ChRI without a warrant by the Vekalat of the CE will be considered as a provocation and will be perceived by the leadership of the Caucasus Emirate as deliberate hostile acts.”

Last month, Dokka Umarov, the erstwhile Chechen rebel leader who now identifies himself as Amir of the Caucasus Emirate Abu-Usman, issued a series of decrees, including one abolishing the political institutions of “the former” Chechen Republic of Ichkeria—including Umarov’s former post of ChRI president—for being “inconsistent” with Sharia (Chechnya Weekly, December 13, 2007).

Zakaev, for his part, announced on December 1 that the ChRI parliament had named him ChRI prime minister. In the statement, which was posted by Chechenpress, Zakaev condemned both “the traditional Islamic ideology a la [Chechen President Ramzan] Kadyrov and the ‘Islamic order’ a la [Chechen separatist ideologist Movladi] Udugov,” accusing the latter of attempting to “split the core of the armed Chechen resistance by creating another breakaway organization known as ‘the Emirate’.” Zakaev added that “bitter experience teaches us never again to allow such a manipulation of religious values” and that one of the “key tasks” for the new ChRI government would be to “preserve the unity of our armed forces.”

Chechenpress subsequently reported that Zakaev held a meeting in Warsaw on December 11 “with the candidates to the Cabinet of Ministers of the ChRI Government as well as Chechen Representatives, Honorary Consuls and famous human rights activists to discuss the composition of the ChRI Cabinet of Ministers.” On January 6, Chechenpress posted a series of decrees issued by Zakaev appointing and naming the new ChRI Cabinet of Ministers.

On January 7, Chechenpress posted an announcement by the ChRI Prosecutor General’s Office that it had revived several investigations into crimes committed on ChRI territory between 1996 and 1999, including the murder of six International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) aid workers in Novye Atagi in December 1996 and the abduction and beheading of three British mobile telephone engineers in the republic in late 1998. The ChRI Prosecutor General’s Office claimed it had received information from witnesses that, in both cases, Isa Umarov and Movladi Udugov had “ordered and inspired” the murders which, according to the office, were committed by Apti Abitaev and members of his group.