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<a name="startcontent"></a><div class="ds"><span class="lu"></span>Wednesday, 12 March 2008</div>
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<br></td><td width="203"><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="storycontent" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2"><div class="mxb"><h1>Regions and territories: Ingushetia
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<img src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40304000/gif/_40304021_ingushetia_close_map203.gif" alt="Map of Ingushetia and area" vspace="0" width="203" border="0" height="152" hspace="0">
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<b>The Republic of Ingushetia in the Russian North Caucasus borders on Georgia to the south. </b>
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Its neighbours within Russia are Chechnya and North Ossetia. The
overwhelming majority of the population is Muslim and clan links are an
integral part of society. </p></div>
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<b>History</b>
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The Ingush and Chechen peoples have close historical, cultural and
linguistic ties, although the Ingush have not shared in the fierceness
of the resistance to Moscow put up by the Chechens over the past 200
years. </p><p>Part of the Russian empire since the early 19th century,
Ingushetia was formally joined to Chechnya under Soviet rule in 1936
when it formed around one-fifth of the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous
Republic within Russia.
</p><p>Like the Chechens, the Ingush, despite their history of
relative loyalty to Moscow, were deported to Central Asia towards the
end of World War II by Stalin who accused them of collaborating with
the Nazis. They were allowed to return only in 1957 when Khrushchev was
Soviet leader.
</p><p>There was tension after Dzhokhar Dudayev came to power as
Chechen leader in 1991. When he declared Chechen sovereignty the Ingush
resisted. There was some fighting along the border between the two
regions and Russian troops were sent in to establish order. The Ingush
subsequently voted in a referendum to form the Republic of Ingushetia
within Russia. Although firmly tied to Moscow, the republic has its own
anthem and state symbols.
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</p><p>The Ingush and North Ossetians have a history of rivalry.
Ingushetia lays claim to the neighbouring Prigorodny district which was
included in the Russian Republic of North Ossetia when Stalin deported
the Ingush in 1944. For many years after their return, the district had
a substantial Ingush population.
</p><p><b>Post-Soviet period</b>
</p><p>In late 1992 violence erupted in Prigorodny district. The two
sides have fundamental differences as to the reasons. The North
Ossetians assert that it was sparked by Ingush radicals seeking to
include Prigorodny in the newly formed Republic of Ingushetia. The
Ingush assert that the North Ossetians attacked first and that they
acted in self defence. </p><p>
The fighting left many dead. Moscow sent troops to establish order. The
Ingush population was expelled from the district and Ingushetia faced
its first post-independence refugee crisis. Tensions persist and there
are differences as to how many refugees have returned home.
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<img src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40301000/jpg/_40301085_ingush_chech_refugees_ap.jpg" alt="Chechen refugees in Sputnik refugee camp near Sleptsovskaya, January 2000" vspace="0" width="203" border="0" height="152" hspace="0">
<div class="cap">Ingushetia has hosted thousands of refugees fleeing violence in Chechnya</div>
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</p><p>Another refugee crisis presented itself when thousands of
Chechens fled across the border into Ingushetia when Russian troops
returned to Chechnya in 1999. The last refugee camp was reported to
have been closed five years later. Russia rejected concerns voiced by
human rights groups that many of the former residents had been forcibly
repatriated in Moscow's zeal to expunge indications of continuing
conflict in the area.
</p><p>Ingushetia lives in the shadow of the violence and lawlessness
of its Chechen neighbour and poverty is widespread. From time to time,
the violence has spilled over the border and Russian forces are
regularly targeted by attackers. </p><p>
There was a major escalation in June 2004 when several dozen people,
including the Ingush acting interior minister, were killed in attacks
reported to have involved hundreds of gunmen armed with grenades and
rockets. </p><p>
</p><p>Russian forces have since launched several raids against
suspected rebel hideouts in Ingushetia in which there have been
numerous deaths.
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<b>Ingushetia facts:</b>
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<ul class="bulletList"><li><b>Territory:</b> Ingushetia
</li><li><b>Status:</b> Semi-autonomous region of Russia
</li><li><b>Status:</b> Republic within Russian Federation
</li><li><b>Population:</b> 300,000 </li><li><b>Religion:</b> Islam </li><li><b>Capital:</b> Magas (previous capital was nearby Nazran) </li><li><b>Languages:</b> Ingush, Russian </li><li><b>Currency:</b> Rouble </li></ul>
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<b>President: Murat Zyazikov</b>
</p><p>Murat Zyazikov, then a general in the Russian security service
and deputy to the Russian president's envoy in the region, was first
elected Ingush president in April 2002. A key rival was disqualified on
a technicality.
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<img src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40301000/jpg/_40301089_ingush_zyazikov_ap.jpg" alt="Ingushetia's President Murat Zyazikov" vspace="0" width="203" border="0" height="152" hspace="0">
<div class="cap">President Murat Zyazikov, regarded as a close ally of President Putin</div>
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</p><p>Mr Zyazikov was reappointed for a further term in June 2005
under new Russian legislation. In line with the new procedure, Mr Putin
proposed Mr Zyazikov to the Ingush parliament which approved him in the
post.
</p><p>He had faced mounting calls for his resignation earlier in the
year from opposition groups which accuse him of presiding over a system
rife with corruption and of failing to take action to resolve refugee
and other disputes with neighbouring North Ossetia.
</p><p>In March 2007, the president sacked his government, amid an
increase in attacks on the republic's authorities. He gave no official
reason apart from calling for more economic and social reform.
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Mr Zyazikov was slightly injured when a car packed with explosives crashed into his motorcade in April 2004.
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An ethnic Ingush, he was born in Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia in 1957. He is married and has three sons.
</p></td></tr></tbody></table><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>
University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br>
<a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------<br>
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