In April 2009, the government operation in Chechnya officially ended. As the bulk of the army was withdrawn, the responsibility for dealing with the low-level insurgency was shouldered by the local police force. Three months later, the exiled leader of the separatist government, Akhmed Zakayev, called for a halt to armed resistance against the Chechen police force from August and said he hoped that "starting with this day Chechens will never shoot at each other". This marked the complete end of the Chechen conflict.