25 July 2005, 16:54
Dagestan 'new Caucasus front' - Der Standard
The Chechen war is expanding into Dagestan. Groups of young Dagestanis, two or three to ten or fifteen in number, have been joining Muslim rebels lately. These are the figures quoted recently by Adilgerei Magomedtagirov, Internal Affairs Minister of Dagestan, the biggest north Caucasus republic and the oldest stronghold of Islam in Russia.
"Borders need to be reinforced in the south," claimed Vladimir Putin as if the war in Chechnya and the ongoing disintegration of the neighbouring ethnic republics were masterminded from the South Caucasus. Meanwhile, even senior government officials in the North Caucasus admit the Islamist-like rebellion is "home-grown."
In mid-July Vladimir Putin visited Dagestan where he showed interest in the construction of a new big military base on the border between Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Chechnya, calling for self-control. The situation in combating crime and terrorism "still remains complex," Russia's leader said, "we cannot say we have done everything possible to feel safe."
"These words were a euphemistic description of what is going on in Dagestan where more than 70 terrorist acts have been committed since the beginning of the year, 40 of them in the capital of the republic, Makhachkala. The most recent act of terrorism was on Sunday when a bomb exploded in a commuter train and a woman was killed," the German-based newspaper Der Standard says (the Russian translation is from Inopressa.ru).
In late May, Sharia Jamaat members killed the nationalities minister, a key political figure in a republic such as Dagestan where more than 30 ethnicities live speaking a hundred f languages. Ten Russian soldiers were killed on their way to baths in early July. Dozens of police officers died in an explosion of a car made into a bomb. Another bomb derailed a train going to Moscow; a gas pipeline was blown up. Meanwhile, Dagestan is a territory through which Caspian oil and gas go.
The republic gave Vladimir Putin a good start on his way to power, the publication notes. In the summer of 1999 when Chechen field commander Shamil Basayev moved his war against Moscow to the neighbouring republic and dreamt about establishing a united emirate of Dagestan and Chechnya, Putin who was then prime minister launched a military advance. The second Chechen war began which promoted Putin to his first presidency.
In the opinion of western observers, the fact that Dagestan that remained stable during a surprisingly lengthy period of time has now found itself in the clutches of Islamist terrorist groups indicates a failure of Putin's policy in Chechnya. After six years the Russian president has found himself where he started, said Andreas Gross, a Council of Europe member and a Parliamentary Assembly rapporteur on the Caucasus. Al-Qaeda groups name the "war on Muslims in the Caucasus" among the grounds for their terrorist acts.
Dagestan serves as the rear for Chechen rebel groups, the Russian military believes. Rappani Khalilov, the Islamist leader in Dagestan, is a Chechen field commandant. His representative in Dagestan, Sharia Jamaat leader Rasul Makasharipov, was killed in early July. At the same time, the Chechen police regularly invade the neighbouring republic. These are first of all Ramzan Kadyrov's subordinates. Ramzan Kadyrov has economic interests in Dagestan, for example control of the market in Khasavyurt where Chechen oil is sold.
Sociologists are astonished at Dagestan's ethnic diversity and see the priority in maintaining a balance of power in various groups such as Avars, Dargins, Kumyks or Lezgins, which would prevent the spread of separatism among the population that numbers two millions. Nominally, the republic is ruled by the State Council that includes representatives of the 14 main ethnicities. As a matter of fact though, Dagestan is governed by a last representative of the Soviet Union. Magomedali Magomedov, an ethnic Dargin, symbolises the extreme corruption of the administration in the republic. Backed by Putin, but not by the population, he has become the actual target for Islamists in Dagestan, the German newspaper concludes.
