Ä ßáó¼Ñ«»: 18 ¡áß á 2000 ú. 3:16
ÆÑ¡á: PRESS RELEASE
The American for Chechnya wishes you success in the demonstration on March
19th (see paragraph 4 of the PRESS RELEASE)
American Committee for Chechnya c/o
Institute for Democracy in Eastern Europe
2000 P Street, NW Suite 400, Washington DC 20036
Tel: (202) 466-7105, Fax: (202) 466-7140, Email: idee@idee.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MARCH 17, 2000
CONTACT: IRENA LASOTA
TEL: (202) 466-7105 No. Pages: 4
EMAIL: idee@idee.org
PRESS RELEASE
PROMINENT US CITIZENS CALL ON STRONGER AMERICAN RESPONSE TO RUSSIAN
AGGRESSION AGAINST CHECHNYA
Three former officials responsible for United States foreign policy --
Zbigniew Brzezinski, Alexander M.Haig, Jr., and Max Kampelman -- today
announced the establishment of the American Committee for Chechnya, a group
of nearly 100 distinguished U.S. citizens demanding a stronger American
response to Russian military aggression against Chechnya.
"We hope to generate policies and actions that will bring this terrible war
to a peaceful end and begin a process of reconstruction and reconciliation,"
the three co-chairmen state. The Founding Declaration of the American
Committee for Chechnya lists a series of policies and actions by the U.S.,
including suspension of World Bank and IMF loans as well as Russia's
participation in G7+1 talks, support for appointing a UN Human Rights
Commission Special Raporteur to investigate crimes against humanity, and
pressuring Russia to open its borders to allow the mobilization of
humanitarian and OSCE resources to relieve the suffering of the Chechen
people.
"We must act against this brutal, inhuman war and try to help the hundreds
of thousands of innocent civilians who have been targeted by Russian
forces," Irena Lasota, the coordinator of the new Committee, said. Yelena
Bonner, wife of Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov and Russia's leading human
rights campaigner, also signed the Declaration, restating in a letter to the
Committee her testimony to the U.S. Congress that Russia's goal is "to
annihilate a large part of the Chechen nation and to drive out those who
survive from their native land. This is not just another routine violation
of human rights. This is a crime against humanity."
The announcement of the American Committee for Chechnya is timed to coincide
with a day of protests being organized in Moscow on Sunday, March 19 in
Pushkin Square by an anti-war coalition of human rights and other
organizations, including the Human Rights Center "Memorial," the Union of
Soldiers' Mothers Committees of Russia, and the Youth Human Rights Center.
The coalition called for a day of international solidarity and actions
against the war.
In addition to Dr. Brzezinski, who served as National Security Adviser in
the Carter Administration, General Haig, who was Secretary of State during
the first Reagan Administration, and Mr. Kampelman, who was President
Reagan's chief arms negotiator, the members of the American Committee for
Chechnya include Morton Abramowitz, former President of the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, former National Security Advisers Richard
V. Allen and Robert C. McFarlane, the Jewish leaders Hyman Bookbinder and
Rabbi David Saperstein, Paula Dobriansky who directs the Washington office
of the Council on Foreign Relations, American Federation of Teachers
president Sandra Feldman, former AFL-CIO president Thomas R. Donahue, actor
Richard Gere, former New Jersey Governor Thomas Kean, former Defense
Secretary Casper Weinberger, and former CIA Director James Woolsey. Also on
the list are Russia experts Eliot Cohen, Charles Fairbanks, Marshall
Goldman, Richard Perle, Richard Pipes, and Peter Reddaway, as well as
authors and editors William Kristol, Seymour Martin Lipset, and Norman
Podhoretz.
