Chechnya's president sworn in under guard

GROZNY, Russia -- Chechnya's new Kremlin-backed president was sworn in yesterday, taking the helm of this wartorn Russian region under heavy guard nearly five months after his predecessor was assassinated and nearly a month after a wave of terrorist attacks blamed on Chechen rebels.

Major General Alu Alkhanov, elected Aug. 29 in a vote critics said was rigged, was inaugurated in a tent erected inside the government complex in the Chechen capital Grozny. Its exterior was draped with a sign calling for "durable peace, stable life, and a worthy future" for Chechnya, where the second war against separatist rebels in a decade drags on five years after it began.

Alkhanov's installation is a key part of the strategy of Russian President Vladimir Putin's government for dealing with Chechnya -- by fighting rebels while promoting elections and other measures aimed at stabilizing a region where nearly three-fourths of the estimated 1 million residents are unemployed.

The location of the ceremony was kept secret until shortly before it began, and hundreds of heavily armed police and security forces flooded the streets of the city. Guests entered the tent one at a time through security cordons and metal detectors, and Alkhanov sat alone behind a desk on the podium. "Today we open a new page in the history of our people," Alkhanov said. "Only together can we be victorious over evil and do away with terrorism on our land."

Alkhanov, who was interior minister in Chechnya's Moscow-backed government, said his oath in the Russian and Chechen languages, standing at a podium in front of two young guards: a Chechen in traditional garb, a dagger at his belt, and a camouflage-clad Russian with a red beret and a Kalashnikov.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent Alkhanov a congratulatory message, saying residents hope he can establish "interethnic concord" and strengthen law and order in Chechnya.

While large-scale battles are rare, violence still plagues Chechnya, and the region is haunted by kidnappings and rights abuses blamed on the rebels, the tens of thousands of Russian troops in the region, and the heavily armed, pro-Moscow Chechen security forces.

Chechen rebels and their supporters have been blamed or taken responsibility for terrorist acts that have shaken Russia recently.