CHECHNYA: MOUNTAIN TERROR
By Asya Umarova in Sharoi

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[01:19 pm] 19 December, 2006

Residents of sparsely populated mountain district accuse federal
troops of night-time abductions.

High in the mountains of Chechnya, on the border with Dagestan and
Georgia, the Sharoi region used to be one of the most peaceful in
the republic.

This is the most inaccessible parts of Chechnya, with narrow paths
threading along cliffs and rivers winding below. Bears and wolves
come out of the thick forests to attack cattle. The occasional houses,
perched on high ground, are situated far from one another and only the
villages of Sharoi and Kiri contain a dozen houses grouped together.

During the first Chechen war of 1994-6, the fighting did not reach
here. But as the conflict that re-started in 1999 has ebbed, violence
has actually increased in the Sharoi district.

"Since 2004 men in masks have been bursting into our houses and taking
people away," said Tumisha, a local resident. "They are federal
soldiers. And the explosions don’t stop. Every month, we hear that
there was a battle here, someone was abducted there. It’s frightening
to live here."

Tumisha wants to leave her home district. "This will carry on for a
long time," she said. "They won’t calm down because they think that
we are helping rebels.

The people they take away come back beaten and crippled.

Military activity appears to have been stepped up in the highlands
of Chechnya, on the apparent assumption that remaining rebel fighters
are now concentrated there – but it is mainly the civilian population
that is suffering the results.

In the neighbouring Shatoi district on December 1, a bombing raid on
the village of Sharo-Argun wounded two locals and left one woman with
concussion. One house was completely destroyed and others were badly
damaged. The local prosecutor’s office has begun an investigation
but the military has denied that the incident took place.

In Sharoi, in the last eight months, more than 20 people have been
abducted from this sparsely populated district.

A resident of Kiri recalls what happened on the night of October
15. "We woke up from a terrible burst of shooting next door," she
said. "Around 20 armed men in three cars crashed into the house of
Seibula Mukuyev.

"They didn’t just beat him but also his teenage children and his poor
wife who had just had an operation."

Other villagers came out to help the Mukuyev family.

The first to intervene was 33-year-old Sultan Musalov, who serves in
Chechnya security forces. Locals said he showed the armed men his
documents but he was seized, taken away and has not been seen to
this day.

The villagers blame Russian federal troops for the abductions and
have appealed to the parliament and local government in Grozny
for support. The parliamentarians invited General Grigory Fomenko,
military commander for Chechnya, to discuss the issue but he did not
come to the session.

"There hasn’t been a positive answer, we only know that they are
doing an investigation," said Rasul Musalov, prefect of the Sharoi
district. "There’s been an increasing number of abductions recently
and we are determined to take measures to curb the federal soldiers."

The district authorities have asked for additional Chechen policemen to
man roadblocks on the 68-km-long road, because the isolated settlements
are vulnerable to night-time raids.

Seven years ago, the Sharoi district had a population of 4,900
people, but now the number has dropped to 3,200. "It is because of
internal migration, people cannot live here because of a lack of
basic conditions," said Musalov.