THE CHILDREN OF CHECHNYA

Children in Chechnya these days love to play at being guerrilla leader Shamil Basaev. The bravest and cleverest boy gets to portray the "national hero" himself, and the strongest, most daring boys become his fighters. No one wants to be Russian soldiers or hostages, so these roles are assigned to the smallest and weakest boys. Just like among adults.

Statistics show that over 5,000 children have been killed during the two campaigns in Chechnya. Over 2,000 children have been crippled, 3,000 have lost both parents, and several thousand more have lost one parent. Many more children have been emotionally damaged by the war.

Of course, there are some leaders in Chechnya who don't approve of this treatment of young people there. However, they are soon sorted out. For example, Mullah Nasrudi Matushev, who headed the main mosque in the town of Novye Atagi since 1976, was shot by bandits not far from his home. They eliminated Matushev because he called on people to resist attempts by guerrillas to force adolescents into one of their armed formations.

Matushev was not the only person to display quite understandable resistance when it was announced that adolescents and children would be mobilized "to fight the occupation forces". Most parents don't want to see anyone from their family gain the "honor" of dying for the faith.

Arbi Baraev, a bandit who was killed recently, went further than other "field commanders" in his cruel treatement of children. He used children aged eight to ten for gathering intelligence and planting explosives. In the past few months, over ten of these children were killed in minefields and while setting fuses. Adolescents who are prepared to do anything to help their families often don't tell their parents about how they are earning extra money. When setting out on a mission, they leave their home address with the group's "treasurer".

Look at the wages these children earn. Monitoring the movements of federal military convoys pays 100 rubles a day. Providing details of where federal troops are stationed is worth 300 rubles. A successful explosion is rewarded with $100 (often counterfeit). Of course, this involves hiring someone with a video camera to confirm the results (solid proof being a prerequisite for payment). The extremists also try to use girls in their bombing activities. For example, an attempt to blow up the commandant's office in the Lenin district of Grozny was prevented: and one young female suicide bomber was found behind the wheel of the explosive-packed car.

It must be admitted that the "Chechen Youth" do pose a real threat - it's easier for children to get through checkpoints. There was one case where four youths opened fire from grenade launchers on the rest camp of a federal reconnaissance team, totally destroying it. All federal officers warn their troops to beware of grenades thrown by Chechen adolescents.