Musa Shanibov

Musa Magomedovich Shanibov (; – 28 April 2020), born Yuri Mukhamedovich Shanibov and also known simply as Musa Shanib, was a Circassian politician and revolutionary who led the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus from its founding until 1996. Popularly known as the "Garibaldi of the Caucasus", Shanibov led a largely-unsuccessful campaign for the region's nations to achieve independence from Russia and commanded volunteer troops in both the 1992–1993 War in Abkhazia. He was involved in the ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia.

Biography Yuri Mukhamedovich Shanibov was officially born on 29 December 1936 in the town of Nalchik, the capital of the Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, or the town of Staraya Krepost (now part of Baksan). However, his true birthdate could be as much as a year earlier, owing to poor record-keeping and the occupation of the region by Nazi Germany during World War II. His family was Circassian, from the tribe Kabardian tribe, and his father was killed after having been ousted as an anti-communist by his neighbour. A participant in the Sixtier movement, Shanibov graduated from Rostov State University as a Candidate of Political Sciences, and he became a professor at the Kabardino-Balkarian State University, On 25 August 1989 he was elected as president of the Confederation of Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus (CMPC) in Sukhumi, where a conflict between Abkhaz and Georgian nationalists was already beginning to become violent. The CMPC supported the Abkhaz drive for independence, and additionally provided backing to the 1991 Chechen Revolution. Concurrent with his taking on the CMPC's leadership, Shanibov changed his name from Yuri to Musa.

Shanibov was arrested in September 1992 on charges of causing political unrest as Kabardians and Balkars continued to clash. (though Fiona Hill argued this escape was engineered by the Kabardino-Balkarian government to deescalate tensions).

With the beginning of the War in Abkhazia Shanibov's CMPC expressed overt support for Abkhaz independence efforts and began militarising itself in an effort to fight Georgia. CMPC involvement was critical to Abkhazia successfully obtaining independence, and Shanibov was revered in Abkhazia for his military achievements. and Shanibov would later fail to support Chechnya militarily (despite publicly vowing to do so) after the beginning of the First Chechen War.

In 1996 Shanibov announced the suspension of the CMPC, citing the attempts of other groups to seek out the CMPC to settle conflicts. For the remainder of his life, Shanibov was relatively quiet, though he continued to give interviews and attended a 2017 ceremony celebrating foreign volunteers of the War in Abkhazia.

Controversies Ethnic cleansing of Georgians

Musa Shanibov was involved in ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia. In 1993, he delivered a speech in front of the North Caucasian volunteers, urging them to "kill, hack, cut off ears and noses of Georgians". Many of those actions were reported to be committed against Georgian civilians and they were classified as ethnic cleansing.