Doku Umarov
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Doku Khamatovich Umarov (Dokka Umarov, Doka Umarov, Доку Хаматович Умаров, Докка Умаров, Дока Умаров) (b. 13 April 1964) is the underground President of the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and the head of the rebel State Defense Council. Umarov has fought for at least 10 years and is reported to have hundreds under his personal command. [1]
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[edit] Biography
Umarov was born to Khamad Umarov in April 1964 in the village of Kharsenoi in Shatoy region in southern Chechnya. He is of the Malkoy teip, the same clan as Arbi Barayev and ex-foreign minister Ilyas Akhmadov. [2] He graduated from the construction faculty of the Oil Institute in Grozny. [3]
Umarov was in Moscow when the first Russian-Chechen war broke out in 1994, and has stated that as a patriot he considered it his duty to return to Chechnya to fight. [3] Accounts vary as to who Umarov served under either Akhmed Zakayev or Ruslan Gelayev on the Southwestern Front. [2][3] He commanded the Borz (Wolf) battalion of the Chechen Spetsnaz that was subsequently expanded into a regiment. In the course of the war Umarov was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and won two prestigious awards for valor. [3]
Following the Khasavyurt accord that ended the first Chechen war in 1996 and the election of Aslan Maskhadov as president in January 1997, Umarov was named by Maskhadov to head the Chechen Security Council. In that capacity, he intervened in July 1998 to quash an armed clash between moderates and Islamic radicals within Maskhadov's entourage. [3] However, he was forced to resign not long after when the Council was disbanded.
[edit] Second Chechen War
Umarov began the current war in 1999 as a field commander working closely with Ruslan Gelayev in Grozny and in Komsomolskoye (after Gelayev's death in February 2004, many of his men joined Umarov's command). [4] Umarov sustained a serious wound to his face in the winter of 2000, as he was leaving a surrounded Grozny [2] and was hospitalized in a third country alongside Zakayev. [3] Georgian intelligence reported Umarov leading 130-150 fighters in the Pankisi Gorge before his return to Chechnya in the summer of 2002.
Back in Chechnya, Umarov became commander of the Southwestern Front, the region southwest of Grozny that borders on Georgia and Ingushetia. [5] In 2003 he was leading his men in the heavy fighting around Shatoy, and in 2004 he was one of the commanders of the large-scale raid on Nazran in Ingushetia. In January 2005, Umarov was reported killed in a gun battle with Russian commandos near the Georgian border. In March, Umarov was reported as having been seriously wounded by a Spetznaz assassination team. In April, Russian special forces destroyed a small guerrilla unit in a seven–hour battle in Grozny after receiving intelligence that Umarov was with them, but he was not found among the dead. [4] In May, Umarov hit an anti-personnel mine. [2] He was reported to have lost a leg, but turned out to be only injured, and struck back in an attack on Roshni-Chu in August. In September the Russian Interior Ministry announced it found "Umarov's grave". In October he was once again falsely reported dead in the Nalchik attack. [4]
In a new tactic designed to put pressure on resistance leaders, the FSB reportedly took Umarov's father, wife, and one-year-old son as hostages in 2005. Several months previously, his brothers and their families had also been kidnapped by a masked men in uniform. [6] His wife and son were freed, but no information is yet know about his father and brothers. His sister was also abducted in Urus-Martan in late 2005; she was released days later after local residents protested for her return.
[edit] Presidency
As vice-president and a field commander, he was automatically elevated to the position as leader following the killing of Sheikh Abdul Halim on 17 June 2006.
In his first published comments since assuming the role of President, Umarov vowed to expand the conflict to "many regions of Russia", and praised his predecessor Sadulayev. He also indicated that a special unit was being formed to fight Chechnya's "most odious traitors," a remark believed to refer to the pro-Moscow Chechen administration. He stressed that the Chechen rebels would attack only military and police targets within Russia. [7]
On 27 June 2006, Umarov appointed Shamil Basayev to the position of vice-president of the rebel government, simultaneously releasing him from his position as first deputy prime minister. [3] Ichkerian foreign minister, Usman Firzauli, said that the appointment was meant to force Russia into political negotiations, for if they killed Umarov, then Basayev would have become the full-fledged leader of the Chechen rebels. [8] However, Basayev was killed soon afterward, in July 2006.
On August 18, 2006 Umarov was erroneously announced to have surrendered at Ramzan Kadyrov's residence in Gudermes under a Russian amnesty provision enacted after Basayev's death, however Russian authorities later reversed it to being his "younger brother" and former head of bodyguards, whom had surrendered – though Umarov himself says he has no younger brother, and still later reports identify him as his older brother Akhmad instead. For their part, the Chechen separatists said that the older Umarov disappeared from the field two years ago and had been considered MIA; they claim that the presentation of the Chechen leader's brother is a PR stunt. [9] Umarov has previously called the amnesty as "a hopeless attempt by the Kremlin regime to shroud the real situation... in lies." [10]
[edit] Views
Umarov maintains that he practices traditional Chechen Sufi Islam, as opposed to radicalism of the "Wahhabis". [11] He also denied that the Chechen separatism is linked to the worldwide Jihad, saying that the rebels' first priority is independence. [3] Umarov maintains a stated stance against the use of terrorist tactics, saying in an interview: "If we resort to such methods, I do not think any of us will be able to retain his human face." [3] Umarov emphasized the military nature of his own war: "Our targets are the Russian occupation forces, their bases, command HQ's, and also their local collaborationist armed servicemen, who pursue and who kill peaceful Muslims. We will attack, where we think it's necessary. Civil objects and innocent civilians are not our targets." [4]
He is seen as having been an ally of Shamil Basayev, and have taken part in or perhaps led a raid into neighbouring Ingushetia in summer 2004 shortly before the Beslan school hostage crisis. [9][5] As a result of deaths suffered in the Nazran attacks, several of Ingush clans have been reported as having declared blood vengeance against Umarov. [4] During the Beslan crisis Umarov was repeatedly identified by security services as the leader of the hostage-takers, [5] a claim that has never been substantiated in any fashion. Furthermore, in a June 2005 interview with Andrei Babitsky of Radio Liberty, Umarov denied involvement in terrorism and criticized Basayev for ordering the Beslan raid. [11] Umarov firmly refuted the value of terrorist attacks: "In the eyes of the resistance such operations have no legitimacy. We ourselves were horrified by what they did in Beslan." (RFE/RL, July 28, 2005) However, a video clip from early April 2006 of Umarov and Basayev together gave no indication of any tensions between the two. [3]
[edit] References
- ^ Nick Paton Walsh. "Chechnya rebels appoint new leader after killing", The Guardian, June 19, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-06-18.
- ^ a b c d "Dokka Umarov: A Hawk Flies to the Ichkerian Throne", Prague Watchdog, June 20, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-06-29.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Liz Fuller. "Chechnya: The Rise Of Russia's 'Terrorist No. 1'", RFE/RL, June 28, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-06-29.
- ^ a b c d e Andrew McGregor. "DOKKU UMAROV: THE NEXT IN LINE", Jamestown Foundation, January 6, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-08-19.
- ^ a b c "Profiles: Key siege suspects", BBC News, 7 September 2004. Retrieved on 2006-06-21.
- ^ "ФСБ захватила в заложники семью Доки Умарова", Kavkaz Center, 5 May 2005. Retrieved on 2006-06-21.
- ^ "Chechnya: New Separatist Leader Vows To Take Fight To Russia", RFE/RL, June 23, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-06-29.
- ^ Valentinas Mite. "Chechnya: Basayev Appointment Sends Signal To Russia And Beyond", RFE/RL, June 28, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-06-29.
- ^ a b Sergei Markedonov. "An Imperfect Amnesty", Russia Profile, August 25, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-11-06.
- ^ "Chechen rebels surrender", WikiNews, August 18, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-08-18.
- ^ a b Andrei Babitsky. "Russia: RFE/RL Interviews Chechen Field Commander Umarov", RFE/RL, July 28, 2005. Retrieved on 2006-06-19.
| Preceded by: Sheikh Abdul Halim |
President of the unrecognized Chechen Republic of Ichkeria 2006–present |
Succeeded by: Incumbent |
