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![]() Friday, September 3, 1999 Published at 21:20 GMT 22:20 UK ![]() ![]() World: Europe ![]() Battle for the soul of the Caucasus ![]() Pro-Russian volunteers take up arms against the Islamists ![]() By Moscow Correspondent Robert Parsons
A year ago, they banished the local government and set up their own court and police force - justice is swift and based on the Islamic Sharia law. "It's not like the Russian system we've had up to now, where a man gets in trouble is charged, pays a small sum and then goes out to do the crime again," an Islamist official explains. Police kept in check
The Caucasus is seeing a battle for the heart and soul of the mountain peoples. Ranged against the Islamists are loyalist volunteers, who are fighting with the authorities to crush the rebellion. For the moment at least they are still in the majority. The violence is exposing the ethnic fault-lines that fissure Dagestan - a small republic where more than 100 languages are spoken. Risk of civil war
"I would like to ask these Russian generals to stay out of the internal conflict in Dagestan - not to get involved and make things worse," one of the Muslim rebels told the BBC. "There is no military solution here." But Russia will not abandon its Caucasian provinces easily - they form its strategic underbelly and are a vital supply route for oil. If Moscow loses Dagestan, a chain of dominoes could tumble from the Caspian to the Black Sea. ![]() |
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