New Chechen president sworn in

The newly-elected president of Chechnya, Aslan Maskhadov, was sworn in today, capping a political process backed by the Kremlin…

The newly-elected president of Chechnya, Aslan Maskhadov, was sworn in today, capping a political process backed by the Kremlin as a recipe for peace but denounced as a sham by rebels and rights groups.

The venue - the region's second largest city, Gudermes, rather than the capital Grozny - was kept secret until the last minute and officials attending were even told to switch off mobile phones for security reasons, Russian agencies reported.

Violence has continued despite President Vladimir Putin's peace plan, a key part of which was the presidential election on October 5 thatAkhmadKadyrov won with more than 80 percent of thevote.

Russian forces have suffered more casualties in the past year in Chechnya than at any time since war resumed in 1999, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said last week.

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And Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, president of a de facto independent Chechnya from 1996 to 1999, has said the elections will not pacify the region but rather swell the ranks of rebels fighting Russian rule.

Kadyrov, once the spiritual leader of the mainly Muslim Chechens, gave the oath of office in Russian and not - as expected - on the Koran at the ceremony, which began with the Russian national anthem.

"I am not a religious leader, or the head of an Islamic state," Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

"We shall hit the terrorists in the outhouse and nip terrorism in the bud," he said, echoing Putin, who in 1999 pledged to wipe out Chechen rebels "in the shithouse".