26th December 1999

Super power rivalry returns

Last week the US was desperately trying to avoid a Russian veto on a resolution to establish a new UN arms inspection team to probe weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and also to refuse any leeway on the lifting of economic sanctions against Baghdad.

At the same time, the Russians were frantically trying to thwart an American move to condemn the atrocities in the breakaway republic of Chechnya and censure the former Soviet Union.

So the one-time adversaries struck a deal: the Russians would sell-out the Iraqis and the Americans would dump the Chechens.

The classic trade-off was international diplomacy at its best or at its worst- depending on whether you look at it vertically or horizontally.

The Security Council, which was quick to intervene in Kosovo and East Timor on humanitarian grounds, has been silenced on Chechnya.

The US, which has already complained about human rights violations in Chechnya, has refused to raise the issue in the Security Council because it would antagonise the veto-wielding Russians.

If provoked, the Russians would go back to their Cold War days and perhaps begin vetoing every single US backed resolution in the Security Council reducing the world's superpower to a helpless giant in the world body.

Addressing a news conference, US President Bill Clinton said he saw no workable way to impose international sanctions- a demand made by human rights groups since Russia has a veto in the Security Council.

Caught in a Catch-22 situation, it was not in America's interest even to cut off US aid that helps Russia to dismantle its nuclear weapons and promote democratic capitalism, he said.

At a meeting of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Montreal last week, Secretary-General Kofi Annan was chastised for his unwillingness to denounce Russia's handling of the war in Chechnya.

"Today, most of the conflicts we're dealing with are not international but internal," he said. "And we're often asked why we are interfering in internal affairs."

But he failed to address the argument as to why there should be one standard for Kosovo and East Timor and another for Chechnya.

Last week, Amnesty International renewed its call for a UN investigation into violations of international humanitarian law in Chechnya - even as Russia was intensifying its war against the separatist guerrillas.

Iain Levine of Amnesty International says he is sceptical that the Security Council would take the initiative on Chechnya because two of the big five powers - the US and Russia - are working in tandem.

Levine said that only six countries - Canada, Netherlands, Malaysia, Bahrain, Gambia and Gabon - had agreed even for a briefing on the humanitarian situation in Chechnya.

The six fell short of a majority in the 15-member Council, which also consists of the US, UK, France, China, Russia, Brazil, Slovenia, Argentina and Namibia.

In a report released last week, Amnesty International said that while civilians continue to suffer in Chechnya, they are also being targeted on the streets and in police stations in Moscow.

Since the bombing of residential buildings in Moscow last September, the Russian authorities have embarked on a campaign code-named "Operation Whirlwind."

Although no one has claimed responsibility for the bombing which killed nearly 300 people, the Mayor of Moscow has blamed Islamic groups from Chechnya.

Amnesty International said it was not only concerned about the way in which the Russian forces are waging war in Chechnya - in apparent disregard of international humanitarian law but also the discriminatory manner in which Chechens have been targeted by authorities in Moscow.

''Fighting crime and terrorism is no justification for violating human rights,'' Amnesty said.

The human rights organisation said that over the past three months, it has collected testimonies from Chechens and other ethnic minorities in Moscow who have been subjected to arbitrary detention, torture , ill-treatment in custody, and forcible expulsion.

''Many alleged that they had drugs and weapons planted on them which were used as the basis for criminal charges,'' the report said.

The study said that many Chechens have sewn their pockets up in order to prevent anything being planted on them if stopped by police.

The Special Assignment

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