ACPC Weekly News UPDATE
August 23, 2010 – August 29, 2010

 

The truce between Kadyrov and Yamadayev further consolidates Kadyrov’s power in Chechnya

On Monday, August 23^rd, Isa Yamadayev, one of the surviving  brothers of the Yamadayev clan, the one-time powerful rivals of the Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, announced his reconciliation with Kadyrov. The same day, Yamadayev announced that the family decided to take his brother, Sulim Yamadaev, a former military commander of the notorious battalion “East”, off life support. The funeral of Sulim Yamadayev took place on August 24. A bitter conflict between the two influential clans started in April 2008 with a clash between Kadyrov’s and Yamadayev’s convoys that refused to yield to the other on a narrow road in Gudermes. Later that year, Ruslan Yamadaev, the oldest of the brothers, and once a deputy to the State Duma from Chechnya, was shot in broad day light in Moscow. In March 2009, Sulim Yamadaev was gunned down in Dubai. Isa Yamadayev previously had accused Ramzan Kadyrov of masterminding the shootings of his brothers, as well as ordering an attempt on his own life last summer.

 

The surprising truce between the longtime rivals prompted a debate across media space in Russia. Whereas some analysts saluted the peace deal as a positive sign that would potentially stabilize the conflict-ridden republic and eliminate the possibility of a devastating blood feud, others have questioned its sincerity, maintaining that the reconciliation was forced by the Kremlin. Isa Yamadayev, however, refuted the claims that the reconciliation took place under the pressure of the Kremlin. Kadyrov commented that the peace deal occurred at the request of ‘respected people’, including elders and religious leaders, and added that he chose to forgive Yamadayev out of ‘pity’. While the terms and conditions of this peace deal remain obscure, it clearly represents a major victory for Kadyrov, who succeeded in eliminating all of his political rivals and further strengthening his grip on the republic.

 

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Kadyrov' Presence at the Sulim Yamadayev's funeral attests to a full reconciliation between the two sides, experts say
Caucasian Knot, August 26, 2010 (in Russian)

 

 

On Tuesday, August 24^th, the taips, the traditional family clans in Ingushetia, announced their decision to re-instate the alternative parliament that had been set up as a response to the failures of Murat Zyazikov’s government in February 2008. Following the replacement of Murat Zyazikov with Yunus-Bek Yevkurov in October 2009, the alternative parliament was dissolved due to the expectations of Yevkurov’s government to bring positive change that would restore the desperately needed rule of law in Ingushetia. However, as the two year anniversary of Yevkurov’s presidency approaches, many residents of Ingushetia have grown distrustful of Yevkurov’s ability to improve the human rights situation in the republic.

Among its objectives, the restored alternative parliament aims at dissolving the current parliament of the Republic of Ingushetia, elected under Zyazikov, as well as ending rampant corruption, extrajudicial killings and kidnappings that are endemic in Ingushetia. Various experts, however, remain largely skeptical about the efficiency of the alternative parliament as a viable opposition or decision-making force that has no legal binding power. Many observers stress that re-instatement of the alternative parliament is an act of desperation and a statement indicative of the growing disillusionment with Yevkurov’s policies in the republic.

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