The Stichting (Foundation) PRIME, on 23 February 2002, organised a demonstration by Chechen asylum seekers in The Netherlands against ongoing Russian state terrorism in Chechenia. The demonstration, which also took place in front of the Peace Palace (International Court of Justice), was organised to draw attention to the fact that 58 years ago, on 23 February 1944, more than 435 000 Chechens were deported to camps in Central Asia. More than half died before survivors were allowed to return after 1956. Furthermore, more than 150 000 Chechens have died since the current war situation started in 1994.

Meanwhile, the European Parliament’s decision to remove the item “Chechenia” from the agenda of its upcoming plenary session resulted in strong condemnation by various groups, including the Transnational Radical Party (TRP). This decision was taken on 11 March 2002, with 154 votes in favour, and 58 votes against. Olivier Dupuis, member of the European Parliament (MEP) and secretary of the TRP, who recently went into a hunger strike on behalf of the Chechenia case, strongly condemned the decision: “To postpone a debate and a vote on a tragedy that has already caused over 200 000 deaths and 400 000 refugees in a population originally of little over one million people is not worthy of a democratic EP. To do so because the EP delegation is soon to visit Moscow shows the real nature of a parliament increasingly strong with the weak and weak with the strong.”

Mr. Dupuis decided to end his 18-day hunger strike after an EP decision to receive a Chechen ministerial delegation. Another MEP, Hans-Gert Poettering, on 10 April 2002, suggested to the EP plenary session in Strasbourg that a political solution in Chechenia might be found along the lines of that adopted in the Republic of Tatarstan, which had a substantial degree of autonomy. This, he said, could be the way to free people from a pervasive sense of hopelessness, and to give them some perspective for the future.

Comment

The UNPO welcomes this call, and firmly believes that the recognition of the Chechen peoples and other peoples right to self-determination, in whatever way and form this may take place, remains the key to lasting peace and stability.

Interestingly, one central issue in the current war has been the Russian government’s determination to keep control over the oil pipelines running through Chechen territory. For Russia, oil is lucrative business. The same could be said of the Angolan government where Cabindan people are denied their right to self-determination because of fears by the Angolan government that it will loose its main source of state revenue: off-shore oil in Cabinda. Certainly, the prospects of lucrative gas- and oil pipelines running through Eastern Turkestan also play a crucial part in China’s policy of repression against the Uighur people.

The conclusion is that oil seems to be a “binding” factor between certain UNPO members suffering under state-sponsored repression. One wonders what role non-state actors such as oil multinationals play in this?