Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: 10 Russians reported killed fighting rebels Date: Wed, 4 Nov 92 16:16:30 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD 10 Russians reported killed fighting rebels \BY Philippa Fletcher \CR REUTERS NEWS AGENCY \DT MOSCOW MOSCOW - Russia, becoming more entangled in bloody ethnic conflicts along its southern borders, said yesterday its troops had clashed with Ingush rebels in the Caucasus. In an appeal to the Russian people, President Boris Yeltsin defended his decision to impose a state of emergency in North Ossetia to stem the Ingush uprising. "The conflict has been provoked by militant nationalists [who] hope that this fratricidal conflict will widen and engulf . . . the whole south of Russia," Mr. Yeltsin said in a statement carried by the Itar-Tass news agency. "It must not be permitted. With all decisiveness and responsibility, I declare that criminal plans and actions will be terminated," he said. His state-of-emergency decree Monday imposed a temporary administration on the region, banned strikes and demonstrations, and ordered the confiscation of weapons. Ingush rebels are fighting the North Ossetians to win back land confiscated in 1944 by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, who accused them and neighboring Chechens of collaborating with Nazi Germany. Fighting showed little signs of abating yesterday despite the state of emergency and a 2-day-old cease-fire. Deputy Russian Prime Minister Georgy Khiza, named by Mr. Yeltsin to lead the temporary administration, told state television that Russian army units had exchanged fire with Ingush militants near the regional capital of Vladikavkhaz. The Interfax news agency said 10 Russian army and Interior Ministry soldiers sent to quell the fighting had been killed since Friday. The Chechens declared independence from Moscow a year ago, and their leader, Dzhokar Dudayev, supported the idea of intervening to help the Ingush. The Izvestia newspaper said Mr. Dudayev accused Mr. Yeltsin of resorting to dangerous, colonial tactics to quell the unrest, the worst to break out in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union in December. Tass said the parliament in South Ossetia, part of Georgia, passed a resolution saying it will intervene to help its northern neighbor if the fighting continues. The Caucasus, conquered by Russia in the 19th century, is inhabited by dozens of ethnic groups, and tensions were kept in check only by the iron fist of czarist, then Communist, rule. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, resentment has bubbled to the surface. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM