Attacks against ethnic Chechens on increase in southern regions.

Instances of racially motivated attacks against Chechens in Russian cities outside of Chechnya are increasing, presidential envoy for human rights in Chechnya Abdul-Khakim Sultygov told a human rights conference in Moscow on 29 September, "Izvestiya" reported on 30 September. Anti-Chechen incidents have taken place most frequently in Krasnodar Krai and Kabardino-Balkaria. In Nalchik, assaults against Chechens on 15-17 September left one person dead and 54 injured. Participants in the conference noted that there were no anti-Chechen incidents in Moscow after the October 2002 theater hostage drama, and blamed the policies of Krasnodar Krai Governor Aleksandr Tkachev and Kabardino-Balkaria President Valerii Kokov for the incidents in their regions. JAC

Wednesday, 1 October 2003

Impasse over Ingushetia camp resolved

UNHCR checking in with displaced Chechens in the tented camps ofSunzhenski district, Ingushetia. © UNHCR/T.Makeeva

BELLA CAMP, Ingushetia, Sept 30 (UNHCR) – The last group of the 1,000Chechens in Ingushetia's Bella camp has been relocated to Satsita camp,ending weeks of uncertainty for the displaced people and marking apositive step towards better co-operation between UNHCR and the localand federal authorities.

Most of the displaced Chechens left Bella for Satsita camp over theweekend. After the last group departed on Monday, Bella camp was closedand its infrastructure dismantled to be moved to Satsita camp, where theUN refugee agency has provided 166 tents for accommodation.

Many of the Chechens told UNHCR they were very pleased with the smoothresolution of what had appeared to be a threatening situation at onepoint. In the last two weeks, they felt they were being pressured to goback to Chechnya when local authorities cut off supplies of water, gasand electricity at Bella camp. Latrines were also reportedly removed,and a military checkpoint set up at the entrance of the camp.

After extensive negotiations between UNHCR, the local and federalauthorities as well as the displaced people themselves, the authoritiesmade a number of guarantees to Bella's inhabitants, most of whom choseto stay in Ingushetia for now instead of returning home.

One point of contention was a group of 85 Chechens who were notregistered with the migration authorities and feared that they would beexcluded from any relocation within Ingushetia. After UNHCR intervenedwith the Federal Migration Service (FMS) in Moscow, this group receivedassurances that they would be registered at their new home in Satsita camp.

The FMS also agreed to restore utilities at Bella camp, calming tensionsand making the displaced people feel that their rights were again beingrespected. As a result, they agreed to relocate voluntarily to Satsita camp.

"UNHCR hopes that this more constructive approach, which took intoaccount the rights and interests of all parties, will be replicated inthe future, replacing heavy-handed tactics such as cutting offutilities,” said the agency's spokesman, Peter Kessler, at a newsbriefing in Geneva Tuesday.

The recent relocation has boosted Satsita camp's population to more than3,500, making it the largest of the four remaining camps in Ingushetia.In all, there are some 11,000 displaced Chechens in Satsita, Bart,Sputnik and Alina camps, while another 66,000 live in temporarysettlements or private accommodation in Ingushetia.

UN refugee agency chief Ruud Lubbers recently proposed a two-prongedapproach to help displaced Chechens under pressure to leave Ingushetia.At the opening of the annual Executive Committee meeting in Geneva onMonday, he stressed that the displaced people must continue to beguaranteed a viable safe haven in Ingushetia until they decide thatconditions are conducive for them to return home. For those who wish toreturn, UNHCR will start projects in Chechnya to enable sustainablereintegration.

Story date: 30 Sep 2003

UNHCR News Stories

30 September 2003

"Bella" camp refugees left outdoors

INGUSHETIA, September 30, Caucasus Times - About 12 families of the

Chechen refugees from 'Bella' tent camp were reportedly left

out-of-doors remaining under rain while they were being relocated to

another camp 'Satsita'.

The other day the Interior Ministry Federal Migration control service officials visited the camp in an apparent bid to persuade the residents to move to another camp promising all basic necessities to live there. As a result, 12 families of the internally displaced persons, including 30 underage children) agreed to move and were transported to the 'Satsita' camp and left there. . As of now, about 50 families refuse to move anywhere, reasoning that the officials haven't fulfilled any agreements and have not provided the resident in 'Satsita' camp with the basic necessities, failing to supply them with gas and electricity.

Several days ago, Ingushetia president Murat Ziyazikov had ordered to get the electricity and gas pipeline restored. However, since yesterday the situation in the camp became worse.

Thus far, the Migration Service officials have not commented the situation.

Malika Suleymenova, Caucasus Times, Ingushetia

September 30th 2003 · Prague Watchdog

Roofless refugees

Timur Aliyev, North Caucasus - On September 29, twelve families of Chechen refugees in Ingushetia were roofless during the rain.

The refugees, among whom were nearly 30 children, had to move from the Bella camp to the nearby Satsita camp because their old tents had been dismantled; however, new tents had not yet been built. "When the torrential rain started, we had to stay virtually in an open field," they said.

The refugees were finally given shelter by their old and new neighbours in the Satsita camp. The rain went on till the morning of the next day.

Earlier Chechen authorities decided that tent refugee camps in Ingushetia had to be dismantled by October.

30,000 Russian troops in Chechnya to vote in presidential election

MOSCOW (AFP) Sep 30, 2003

Some 30,000 Russian troops based permanently in the troubled southern republic of Chechnya will vote in next Sunday's presidential election, the head of Russian forces in the Northern Caucasus, General Valery Baranov, said Tuesday.

"The number of federal forces based permanently in the republic is around 30,000," the official said, adding that the troops would vote in the election.

Under Russian electoral law, Russian servicemen are allowed to vote in constituencies where their units are based.

Baranov said the units concerned were the 46th brigade of interior ministry troops, the 42nd motorised division of the federal armed forces and the border guards and military units based in the towns, the Interfax news agency reported.

The number of Russian troops stationed in Chechnya since Moscow launched a military campaign exactly four years ago to put down a separatist insurgency is usually estimated at around 80,000.

Chechen rebels and many outside observers have denounced the October 5 as lacking legitimacy, taking place in a situation of military occupation and with hundreds of thousands of Chechens living outside the republic unable to vote.


Ekho Moskvy 30 September 2003

Russian web paper receives video appeal from hostage in Chechnya

[Presenter] A new video appeal from Nadezhda Pogosova, a senior assistant at the Chechen prosecutor's office, arrived by e-mail today at the editorial office of Internet project Grani.ru. In it Pogosova, who is being held captive in Chechnya, again asks for help. Vladimir Korsunskiy, head of Grani.ru, told our radio station about it.

[Korsunskiy] It was a video appeal. It is a bit longer than the previous one, than the first one. The essence of it is the same as in the first one. She says that she is being held captive by Ichkerian [Chechen] armed forces, that she is being treated well and that the only demand being put forward by her kidnappers is to exchange her for imprisoned Chechens. She appeals to the strange addressee for help in a prisoner exchange deal.

She continues to appeal to [exiled tycoon] Boris Berezovskiy, who, of course, cannot exert any influence on a decision by the federal centre on whether to exchange prisoners or not. It is still not clear who she is being held by. Our phone calls today to the Chechen prosecutor's office and the Moscow prosecutor's office elicited the answer that nobody has ever approached the federal authorities with a ransom proposal or a proposal to exchange her for any prisoners.

[Presenter] Vladimir Korsunskiy says that the editors of Grani.ru are prepared to send the file with Pogosova's new appeal by e-mail to the Prosecutor-General's Office's and the Chechen prosecutor's office so that officials do not have to seize the file from the editorial office itself.

After Grani.ru received Pogosova's first message a search was carried out at the editorial office.

Ekho Moskvy: 30 September 2003

Exiled Kremlin insider says he can`t help abducted Chechen prosecutor

[Presenter] It is common knowledge that kidnappings in Chechnya are not ceasing. It is sufficient to recall the recent disappearance of the senior assistant prosecutor of the republic, Nadezhda Pogosova. Her plea to Boris Berezovskiy was disseminated the other day. In it, she says she is being held hostage and asks the businessman for help.

[Passage omitted] Incidentally, Boris Berezovskiy is aware of Nadezhda Pogosova's cry for help, but in an interview to our radio station, he said he would not be able to help, much as he wanted to.

[Berezovskiy] [Former Russian President Boris] Yeltsin realized the error he had committed in that war and he tried in any way to help those who suffered in connection with that mistake, primarily those who were taken into captivity. Yeltsin gave powers, official powers, that entitled Ivan Petrovich [Rybkin] as Secretary of the [Russian] Security Council and me as his deputy to deal with freeing people. And we did that under the aegis of the state. We freed a total of 1,536 captives. Today, I reckon, it is virtually impossible to help, unfortunately. There's no help on the part of the president. The president [Vladimir Putin] wants to continue to wage war and ordinary people become victims. Much as I want to help the poor woman, because I saw those people we freed from captivity, unfortunately, I will not be able to help. The government is not interested in freeing its captives.