Allah's Mountains

328 Pages·2005·2.57 MB·English

by  Smith

Sebastian Smith is a prize winning author and journalist. He has been a
correspondent in Washington, Moscow and London for the English-
language service of Agence France-Presse and is currently living and
working in Georgia.
‘Fluent and persuasive prose ... admirably clear,’ New Statesman
‘A moving example of how history can be written. Smith’s account of the
historical background to the conflict reads like a novel, but better,
because it also has the intimacy and immediacy of an eyewitness
account. He has given us a memorable, well-researched account of a
peculiarly horrible war’ Literary Review
‘This is a riveting book, written with almost seamless elegance. But
Allah’s Mountains is not simply a reportage. In a commendable effort to
go beyond the present facts, Smith has delved deeply into the broader
Caucasian context, steeping himself in the knowledge of its myriad
peoples, cultures and languages’ International Affairs
‘Sebastian Smith’s Allah’s Mountains is a riveting battle by battle account’
The Tablet
‘Excellent, readable, insightful’ Jane’s Intelligence Review
‘Smith’s book is exceptionally well written, alternating between hard
reporting and more personal vignettes that give the flavour and emotional
colouring of the area’ The Moscow Times
‘Heads of state and their foreign ministers should be forced to read and
ponder this book’ Professor George Hewitt
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Published in 2006 by Tauris Parke Paperbacks
An imprint of I.B.Tauris and Co Ltd
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In the United States of America and Canada distributed by
Palgrave Macmillan a division of St. Martin’s Press
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First published in 1998 by I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd
Copyright © 1998, 2001, 2006 Sebastian Smith
Cover image: Female Chechen rebel fighter © Heidi Bradner/Panos
The right of Sebastian Smith to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the
author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988.
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not
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ISBN 978 1 85043 979 0
eISBN 978 0 85773 076 3
A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
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Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available
For my Father
Contents
List of Maps
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Prologue
Part 1 The Jigsaw
Part 2 Fires of Liberty
Part 3 The Jigsaw in Pieces
Part 4 The Chechen Wolf
Part 5 The Fury
Part 6 Chasing Paradise
Bibliography
Maps
1 Southern Russia and the Caucacus
2 Extent of Russian Conquest in Caucasus in 1800
3 Existing and Proposed Oil and Gas Pipelines
4 Ethnic Groups in the North Caucasus
5 Chechnya During 1994–96 War
6 Grozny
Acknowledgements
The first people I owe thanks are those in Chechnya who risked their lives to
protect mine, or to help me get the story for my news agency, usually for no
reward. In true Caucasus style, many others ignored considerable hardships to
house and feed me.
Some are named in this book, but many are not. A special thanks to Mussa
Damayev of Shali, Salamu Turlayev of Novy Tsenteroi, Khanzad Batayev and
Movladi Yermolayev of Bamut, Ali Atuyev of Stary Achkhoi, Islam Gunayev of
Hadji Yurt, Yussup of Serzhen Yurt.
I am grateful to all those in other parts of the North Caucasus who displayed
such magnicifent hospitality and also to the many academics and officials who
gave me their time. Especially: in Dagestan, Sayid Khabetov of Novoselskoye,
Natasha Stoyanova of Makhachkala and Gussein Gazimagomedov of Gimry; in
Ingushetia, Boris Khaniyev; in North Ossetia, Anatoly Isayenko at Vladikavkaz
University and Vladimir Shakbazidi at the Greek Society; in Kabardino-
Balkaria, Kazir Dzhammal and his family in the mountains; in Karachai-
Cherkessia, Karachai leader Kazbek Chomayev and mullah Kazbek Shamatayev,
Rasul and friends; in Adygea, Khamzet Kazanov, Aslan, museum director Almir
Abregov and national dance troupe director Amerbi Kulov; also the staff of the
Severny Kavkaz newspaper, especially Tatyana Mamkhyagova in Cherkessk.
For their great help in knocking sense into my manuscript, I am forever
grateful to Andrew Harding, James Meek, Carey Scott and Antony Smith. I also
thank Anna-Maria Boura, Laurence Peter, Andrei Piontkovsky and Dmitri
Trenin for their comments on the text, and Agence France-Presse and the
Moscow Times for their archives, and the Centre for Global Energy Studies and
Philip Armstrong for maps.
Also thanks to my AFP boss Paola Messana for giving me time off to write
and an unlimited chance to work in Chechnya; to Natasha Fairweather for
helping me find a publisher; to Marina Lapenkova and Valentina Blinova for
teaching me to enjoy the Russian winter; to the late Peter Braestrup and to Jack
Kneece Åsne Seierstad for their early encouragement; to fellow journalists in
Chechnya, some of whom, but not all, are mentioned in this book, for their
company and support; and finally to Anna Enayat at my publishers I.B.Tauris for
taking on the book and being so patient at my rewrites and delays.
This book could not have been written without help from previously published
works. They are listed in the bibliography, but I am particularly indebted to the
various works of Alexandre Bennigsen and S. Enders Wimbush on Islam under
the Soviet Union; to Robert Conquest for his definitive account of the