March 19, 2003	Wednesday	Muharram 15, 1424

MOSCOW, March 18: Chechnya’s rebel leader Aslan Maskhadov on Tuesday urged Chechens to reject a constitutional referendum this weekend aimed at solidifying the republic’s status as part of Russia.

“Russia is trying in vain to get us to recognize their supremacy. For centuries our ancestors have not recognized this supremacy and now, at gunpoint, they are forcing us to surrender our will in this referendum,” he said in a statement posted on rebel website, kavkazcenter.com.

Many Western and Russian observers have criticized Kremlin-backed poll on Sunday, and have called on President Vladimir Putin to instead open peace talks with the rebel leadership headed by Maskhadov.

Mr Putin refuses to recognize Maskhadov, who was elected to a five year-term as president of Chechnya in polls held after the end of the republic’s first separatist war in 1996.

“As the elected president of the Chechen republic, I appeal to all those who hold dear our long-suffering land and the honour and dignity of our nation, to all the citizens of our republic, to unite at this difficult time and state openly that there is no alternative to an independent Chechen state,” Maskhadov said.

Voters are widely expected to adopt the new constitution in the March 23 referendum, including an article naming Chechnya an “inalienable” part of the Russian Federation.

The Kremlin has touted the referendum as putting an end to Chechnya’s aspirations of independence and the war that has been raging between Chechens and federal forces since Oct 1999.—AFP