KHANKALA. May 6 (Interfax-AVN) - Field commander Abu al- Valid, successor to the warlord Khattab who was killed in March, has turned down a proposal by Shamil Basayev to leave the Vedeno district and to take part in rebel operations on the Chechen lowlands, servicemen in Chechnya have learned.
Basayev made the proposal at a conference of field commanders that supposedly took place in Nozhai-Yurt in the early hours of April 22, the regional operations staff in charge of the anti-terrorist operation in Chechnya told Interfax.
According to a staff spokesman, warlord Aslan Maskhadov is trying to make use of the disaccord between Basayev and al-Valid. After Khattab's elimination Maskhadov is trying to gain control over all illegal armed formations in Chechnya and unite them under a single command.
The spokesman said Maskhadov established his own council of field commanders in late April to counterbalance a similar council that has been led by Basayev since summer 1999.