A visit to Pankisi Gorge raises questions about islamic radicals

Jeffrey Silverman 5/23/02

As US military advisers prepare to train Georgian troops in anti-terrorism operations, President Eduard Shevardnadze warned Chechen fighters who have found a safe haven in the Pankisi Gorge to leave the area, saying the "noose is gradually tightening." At the same time, Shevardnadze expressed hope that the guerrillas will depart of their own volition, and thus avoid the need for a government offensive in the region.

"We are trying to suggest to them that they make their way out of here [the Pankisi Gorge] as quickly as possible because the noose is gradually tightening," Shevardnadze told Georgian television May 22. "We still want to part with them in a friendly way, and I believe that we will be able to do it."

The Pankisi Gorge, which borders the separatist-minded Chechnya in Russia, has often been portrayed in media reports as a bastion of lawlessness and a hideout for Chechen fighters and civilian refugees. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archives]. The presence of Chechens in the Pankisi has long been a source of tension between Georgia and Russia.

International attention focused on the Pankisi in February, when a top US diplomat alleged that Islamic radicals with links to Osama bin Laden were active in the gorge. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Shortly thereafter, Washington, fearful that the Pankisi might develop into a terrorist haven, announced that it was dispatching military advisors to Georgia. The US anti-terrorism training program is now expected to begin May 27.

In recent days, Georgian Security Minister Valeri Khaburdzania has helped stoke concern about the Pankisi by alleging that up to 100 "Arabs" and 800 Chechen fighters are currently in the region, hiding out in the mountains that ring the area. "There is nothing new or sensational about this," Khaburdzania told Georgian television May 21. "I have repeatedly said that there are illegal armed formations there, that is, people who are armed and whose presence in Georgia is illegal."

While few doubt that the Pankisi has been utilized by Chechen fighters, the allegation that the region is home to al Qaeda operatives has not been independently verified. Indeed, an April 6 journey to the area by two reporters raised questions about the accuracy of US and Georgian official portrayals of the gorge.

To begin with, the Pankisi Gorge is not a gorge. It is a fertile valley, almost twenty kilometers long, which has been home to a Chechen population, called Kists, for the past 200 years. Since the second Chechen War began in 1999, several thousand refugees from Chechnya have relocated there. Local residents say Chechen fighters frequently interact with the local population, and with Georgian security forces.

Journalists are not supposed to enter the area without official permission, and even then they are supposed to move around under military escort at all times. This policy reportedly seeks to protect reporters' personal safety. Yet on April 6, a colleague and I entered the gorge without official permission.

A brief visit cannot be expected to paint a complete picture, but it was immediately evident that Pankisi is a very unhappy place. And, at least on the day we visited, it was relatively quiet. We entered Pankisi using a local taxi that, to our surprise, was waved through two checkpoints manned with well-armed Georgian soldiers. We then walked through the main village of Duisi. From there, we took local transport through the entire populated area of the valley without seeing any evidence of the Georgian security forces.

We interviewed a number of locals, including refugees from Chechnya, who told us that the so-called "Gorge" was calm. When we asked about conflict and lawlessness people shook their heads. People were mostly concerned with the poverty of the area – anyone with money fled the region as fast as they could. Residents claimed that no humanitarian aid, with the exception of wheat flour, had arrived since the previous year. Children, people said, were not able to receive full schooling.

The lack of outside aid indicates that while some rhetoric about Pankisi's volatility may be politically motivated, the region hardly qualifies as stable. As one local commented, "Everyone will deny being a boyevik [Chechen fighter], but everyone has a gun."

Strolling between two villages we were greeted with the common greeting "Salaam Aleikum" by a bearded man in combat fatigues who was carrying a Kalashnikov. His uniform did not have an insignia. Georgian soldiers are not permitted to grow beards, but it was impossible to determine if the bearded man, or any of the armed men that we saw, had links to Chechen separatists or al Qaeda.

Only after we had passed several kilometers beyond the populated area of the valley did we come across a Georgian military presence again. We had earlier been told by our taxi driver that there was a third and final checkpoint, and apparently this was it. At this point, soldiers asked us for documents. We spent over an hour and a half at this checkpoint with five soldiers before police arrived. Our presence was communicated by radio to officers, one of whom came to see who we were. The soldiers mostly spoke Chechen; at one point they listened to Chechen radio (Radio Free Chechnya). One said he had fought in Grozny against the Russians during the second Chechen war.

While in custody, we engaged one soldier in conversation. If it was so easy for us to walk around Pankisi, one of us asked the soldier, then arms and other illicit items can easily enter Pankisi without a security check as well. "Yes, we know this," said one of the soldiers, "but don't say that in front of our officers." We agreed that this would be inappropriate.

Back in Duisi, we were again detained for over two hours for questioning before we finally left the gorge. Returning to Tbilisi, we could neither confirm nor refute statements concerning the presence of Islamic radicals in Pankisi. Although we found no clear evidence of an al Qaeda presence, the brief nature of our viit precludes definite conclusions. The overwhelming impression of the trip is that the on-the-ground situation in the Pankisi Gorge requires closer scrutiny.

Editor's Note: Phillip O'Ceallaigh is a freelance journalist, who has reported from Georgia for Irish State Radio. Jeffrey K. Silverman is a freelance journalist based in Tbilisi.

Posted May 23, 2002 © Eurasianet