Prospect for German peace politics: Chechnya’s freely elected President Maschadow annunciates a ceasefire

According to the Society for Threatened People (GfbV), German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder should consider the announcement of a unilateral ceasefire by Chechnyan President Aslan Maschadow, who was freely elected in 1997 under the observance by the OSCE’s election observers, as an opportunity to put a German peace initiative in practice.

"The Chancellor lost his credibility by supporting the Russian politics towards Chechnya of his "bosom friend” Wladimir Putin. Now he can regain his reputation in the domain of peace politics”, says Tilman Zülch, GfbV’s Secretary General. Schröder had repeatedly welcomed the so-called anti-terrorist measures taken in Chechnya and affirmed his solidarity towards Russia.

Since 1999, 80,000 people in Chechnya have been killed by Russian troups. The Chechnyan capital Grozny was razed to the ground. Human rights organizations such as the GfbV accuse Putin of genocide and demand an international tribunal based on the model of Yugoslavia’s in the Hague and of Rwanda’s in Arusha.