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| Saturday, 04 September 2004 |
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Militants free 26, hundreds still held hostage at Russian school BESLAN, Russia, Friday (AFP,Reuters) Militants freed 26 women and toddlers but kept hundreds more locked up in a southern Russian school without food for the third day Friday in a crisis that President Vladimir Putin said should not be resolved by force in the short term. As dawn broke, so did gunfire and the realisation by panicked mothers - their faces contorting in tears - that their children were trapped in the cold and surrounded by masked guerrillas and no clear government rescue plan. There were stirring scenes Thursday as gun-toting men in camouflage gear carried out crying newborns who had been herded into the school by armed rebels along with their mothers and smartly-dressed children who had been lined up to celebrate their first day in school. One of the released women, a nanny, brought out an infant only to return back inside because her own children were not allowed out. "This is just a drop in the ocean when you consider how many are still inside," said Leonid Roshal, a famed Russian pediatrician who is helping lead the negotiations. His efforts to get food and water to the hostages have been spurned by at least 20 distrustful guerrillas whose demands remain unknown but are widely believed to be protesting Putin's war in separatist Chechnya. One survivor told the Kommersant daily that "people were lying on top of each other" in the gym and another that people were not moving around to conserve energy. "They (the hostage takers) are calling themselves Chechens ... and not taking off their masks. They also said that their children were killed by the Russians and that they have nothing to lose." Putin - who has used force to resolve similar standoffs in the past and refused to negotiate with the rebels - admitted the crisis was the most serious he has faced yet since being elected in 2000. "All these actions are aimed not only against specific Russian citizens but against Russia as a whole," Putin said, adding that Russia would do all in its power to prevent further destabilization in the Caucasus region. He added: "The most important thing is to safeguard and protect the lives of those held hostage." One official who spoke to Russian television overnight said the militants had been offered safe passage to Chechnya and a proposal to exchange the children held hostage for adults. That information was not later substantiated. Lev Dzugayev, a spokesman for the president of the Russian republic of North Ossetia, said the release of the women and children was a positive signal. "This is the first positive result that came about as a result of negotiations led by Ruslan Aushev," a former leader of the Caucasus republic of Ingushetia which borders Chechnya, Dzugaev told reporters. At least seven people were killed when the gunmen stormed the school. The International Red Cross, quoting Russian colleagues, said up to 16 may have died. Paediatrician Leonid Roshal, who has also been involved in telephone talks with the gunmen, described the hostage release as a "big victory". "But if you look at the broader picture, it is a drop in the ocean. There is plenty of work ahead," Roshal told reporters. The gunmen were still refusing requests to allow food and water into the school, said Roshal. Media reports said hostages had access to tap water and other supplies which local residents had managed to pass into the building. Roshal said an unsuccessful end to the crisis could produce "a war between fraternal peoples. I appeal to the wisdom of the Ingush, Ossetian and Chechen peoples to avoid a war. Otherwise thousands of lives will be lost". |
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