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Pro-Moscow Chechen Leader Rules Out Talks With Chechen President
MOSCOW, Sept 29 (News Agencies) - The head of the pro-Russian administration in Chechnya, Akhmad Kadyrov, on Saturday rejected holding talks with president Aslan Maskhadov but said he had contacted another opposition commander.
"There is no room for Maskhadov in Chechnya," Kadyrov said, when asked with whom Moscow and pro-Russian authorities in the breakaway republic were prepared to hold talks.
But efforts to bring the two sides together continued, as Maskhadov's representative Akhmad Zakayev said he had appealed to Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze to mediate efforts to end years of fighting in Chechnya.
Without a third-party mediator, constructive discussions could not take place, Zakayev told Agence France-Presse (AFP). There was no confirmation of the request from the Georgian president, who is currently in the Azeri capital Baku.
Maskhadov confirmed in an interview with the Russian daily Kommersant Saturday that Zakayev had held talks with the Russian authorities but insisted the opposition would not lay down their arms.
Kadyrov said he had held indirect talks with another Chechen commander, Ruslan Gelayev, and accused Maskhadov of being "responsible for the bloodbath [in Chechnya]."
"He ordered the murder of those who cooperate with the Russians.
"I had contacts through intermediaries with Gelayev. He has not kidnapped people and does not support Wahhabism [a particularly conservative following of Islam], so he can be useful," Kadyrov said.
However, he added, talks could only consider ways for separatists to lay down their arms and return to civilian life and were in no way peace negotiations.
But Maskhadov's press service was quick to deny Saturday that there had been any contact between Gelayev and Kadyrov.
The press service told AFP by telephone that Gelayev had in fact asked "all Chechen commanders to arrest Maskhadov but to not touch him and to take him to the supreme shari'a [Islamic law] tribunal in Chechnya."
A representative for the opposition confirmed to AFP that there had been contacts between Zakayev and Russian authorities, but that the only aim was "an end to fighting and the departure of the Russian troops."
"The independence of Chechnya is not negotiable," said spokesman Movladi Udugov.
"We addressed ourselves to Shevardnadze because he is used to dealing with conflicts and he has shown his opposition to a military solution to the [Chechen] problem," Zakayev said.
The latest talks follow a 72-hour ultimatum last Monday by Russian President Vladimir Putin for the Chechen opposition to discuss laying down their arms and returning to civilian life.
Kadyrov denied Saturday that there was any likelihood that Saudi-born millionaire Osama bin Laden, whom Washington suspects of having masterminded the September 11th attacks in the United States, could be in Chechnya.
"I absolutely rule out the possibility that bin Laden could be in Chechnya and could have found shelter there," he said.
Meanwhile, new fighting erupted early Saturday, when separatists attacked the town of Shali, 25 kilometers (15 miles) southeast of the Chechen capital Grozny, killing three people, an official with the local administration said.
The victims were a soldier, a police officer and a woman, the official said, as quoted by the Interfax news agency.
Kadyrov confirmed the death of the police officer and the woman but did not mention a soldier.
Russian troops stormed into Chechnya on October 1, 1999, launching an "anti-terrorist" operation that has since degenerated into a brutal guerrilla war that has claimed the lives of more than 3,000 federal troops and killed an unknown number of opposition and civilians.
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