Factfile on Chechnya

MOSCOW – Chechnya once again became the focus of worldwide attention after a three-day hostage-taking at a school in nearby North Ossetia ended in carnage.

Following are some basic facts about the north Caucasus republic, which is a landlocked, impoverished mountainous region with few natural resources. GEOGRAPHY:Chechnya is sandwiched between the northern slopes of the Caucasus mountain chain and the steppe and bordered by Georgia and the Russian republic of Dagestan.Its position is strategic in that it straddles the main highway and the only railway and oil pipeline through Russian territory between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea.It covers 13 000 square kilometres or 5 000 square miles.POPULATION:1,2 million people before the 1994-96 war, including more than 400 000 ethnic Russians.A recent Russian census found that the population was above one million, but the result was met with scepticism given the large number of casualties in the war and refugees.The Chechens, who have been mainly Muslim since the 18th century, are split into clans under the authority of councils of elders.They are one of the most ancient peoples in the Caucasus region.CAPITAL:Grozny (meaning “threatening” in Russian), renamed Dzhokhar-Khala, or “Dzhokharville”, after the pro-independence leader Dzhokhar Dudayev was killed during the 1994-96 conflict.- Nampa-AFPGEOGRAPHY:Chechnya is sandwiched between the northern slopes of the Caucasus mountain chain and the steppe and bordered by Georgia and the Russian republic of Dagestan.Its position is strategic in that it straddles the main highway and the only railway and oil pipeline through Russian territory between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea.It covers 13 000 square kilometres or 5 000 square miles.POPULATION:1,2 million people before the 1994-96 war, including more than 400 000 ethnic Russians.A recent Russian census found that the population was above one million, but the result was met with scepticism given the large number of casualties in the war and refugees.The Chechens, who have been mainly Muslim since the 18th century, are split into clans under the authority of councils of elders.They are one of the most ancient peoples in the Caucasus region.CAPITAL:Grozny (meaning “threatening” in Russian), renamed Dzhokhar-Khala, or “Dzhokharville”, after the pro-independence leader Dzhokhar Dudayev was killed during the 1994-96 conflict.- Nampa-AFP