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The
heads of three village administrations in Chechnya resigned Wednesday, saying
they feared for their lives after the killings of two leaders in other villages.
Dzhamli
Yelikhanov, head of the Gikalo village administration in the Grozny district,
was gunned down last week. On Tuesday night, the head of the Gekhi-Chu
administration in the Yasayev district was shot and fatally wounded while
driving from his village to Roshni-Chu. He died on the way to the hospital. No
suspects have been held in the killings of the Kremlin-backed officials, which
police blamed on modjahedin Seventeen
administrative heads have been killed this year with no arrests, said Shahid
Dzhamaldayev, head of the Grozny district administration. Three of them were
from the Grozny district. He would not identify the three men who resigned
Wednesday nor say which villages they had represented.
They
quit "because they don't want to be killed like partridges by modjahedin
who can break into anything and kill them at any time," Dzhamaldayev said
by telephone from Tolstoi-Yurt. "Administration heads have almost no
authority in their villages," he said. "They are getting zero funds
for restoration, and their wages, from 1,800 rubles to 3,000 rubles a month,
have not been paid for three months." The heads of districts in Chechnya
have armed bodyguards or weapons, but the heads of towns and villages are not
allowed to have such protection.
"I
think federal officials refuse to arm us because some of us feel sympathy for
the rebels," said one administration head who asked not to be identified. A
number of other municipal leaders are thinking about following the path of the
three men who resigned Wednesday, according to the heads of several Chechen
districts. "Out of our nine village administration heads, three people told
me they are ready to resign," said Salaudin Bakhayev, deputy head of the
Itum-Kale district administration.
"We
have no weapons, nor do we even have a radio to inform the police if something
happens. It is almost impossible for us to get permission to have weapons for
resisting commandos," he said. A
village head in his district was killed three months ago "just like a
rabbit," he said. The mountainous Itum-Kale district is one of the most
dangerous regions in Chechnya because it is surrounded by forests "that are
swarming with rebels," Bakhayev said. "It is so difficult to find and
keep people in administrations. We hope the matter [of arming them] will be
resolved soon." Urus-Martan
head Shirvani Yasayev said a few of the administrators in his district have said
they are considering quitting, but none have resigned.
"We
must do something to protect them. I invited the commandant of our district
today, and we are also expecting a representative of the military, to get
together for talks about arming our officials," Yasayev said. Alla
Vlazneva, spokeswoman for Chechen Prime Minister Stanislav Ilyasov, said
Ilyasov's government has discussed the issue of protection many times. "This
is a problem now because there is no funding," Vlazneva said. "We are
waiting for the opening of a treasury office here to receive money transferred
from Moscow. But I don't know when it will open." Meanwhile, Grozny
district head Dzhamaldayev said he intends to move his office to Gikalo, where
Yelikhanov was killed last week. "I
must be in the most dangerous place to set an example," he said. "Otherwise,
I will not be able to hire people to head administrations."
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