The Beslan tragedy and the post-Beslan situation of Chechnya

Résumé du document

On September 1st, 2004, the School Number 1 in the city of Beslan, North Ossetia, was the target of a terrorist attack. A group of 32 terrorists, mostly Chechen, took more than 1200 school children and adults hostage. The hostage crisis lasted three days before the authorities' intervened. This event was the consequence of an escalation of violence in the Caucasian region since 1990's. As a matter of fact, terrorism had become the first element of the fight for independence in Chechnya. The atrocity of the Beslan bloodshed was so high, that is could be considered as the culmination of the terrorist campaign in Russia. With respect to the Russia policy towards security, this event was a definitive watershed bringing far-reaching political consequences.

Extraits

[...] We cannot forget that none of the problems is solved. Reconstruction In Chechnya an active programme of rebuilding industrial and residential areas is currently occurring. The first aim of this agenda is to invigorate the economy, to raise the GDP and to reduce the unemployment. For example the airport of Grozny was completely renewed in October 2006. Ramzan Kadyrov is supervising the civil reconstruction; this process took an acute acceleration in 2006. For that matter, the foreign analysts suspect that behind the total control of the reconstruction funding financing there is embezzlement. [...]

[...] Associated to a growing nationalism among the country, Beslan has strengthened fears and resentment towards the Chechens and all Caucasian republics. Afterwards the Russian public to be generally supportive of increased security measures. A survey conducted by Levada-Center on September revealed that 58% of Russians support stricter anti-terrorism laws and the death penalty for terrorism would support banning Chechens from entering Russian cities. A republic under the direct rule of Moscow The Russians have succeeded in establishing a pro-Moscow Chechen regime. [...]

[...] Moreover, they asked for the resignation of President Vladimir Putin. Most of the terrorists were Chechen separatists, but it seems that nationalism was not the only motive of the attack. Contrary to Aslan Maskhadov who condemned the taking over, Shamil Basayev claimed early responsibility for the school siege in financing and organizing it, he stated that Islamism was one of the main reasons in the attack. The objective was to implement an Islamic Emirate across the whole of the North Caucasus stretching from the Black Sea to Caspian Sea in triggering a war in Caucasus between ethnic and religious groups . [...]

[...] He was in fact the only person considered as a possible interlocutor with Russia. If the guerrilla was already quite weakened - many historic commandants have been killed or have surrendered, Moscow has won significant success: the leadership heir, Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev, is also murdered, and especially the well-know Chechen terrorist Shamil Basayev is killed in July 2006. These eliminations do not stop the fighting resistance , even if the occurrence seems to slowdown. This dawdling way out of the conflict is the consequence of a long deterioration of the situation, a depletion of the population and the absence of horizon. [...]

[...] The Beslan tragedy and the post-Beslan situation of Chechnya The September 1st the School Number 1 in the city of Beslan, North Ossetia, was the target of a terrorist attack. A group of 32 terrorists, above all Chechen, took more than 1200 school children and adults hostage. The hostage crisis lasted three days before the authority's intervention. This event was the consequence of a violence escalation in the Caucasian region since 1990's. As a matter of fact, terrorism was became the first element of the fight for independence in Chechnya. [...]