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Source: European Commission - Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) Date: 11 Dec 2003 Northern Caucasus: Commission allocates EUR 9.5 million for victims of conflict in Chechnya IP/03/1706 Brussels, 11 December 2003 - The European Commission has granted €9.5 million in humanitarian aid to support victims of the conflict in Chechnya. The aid is intended to bolster the EU's ongoing efforts in support of the most vulnerable sections of the local community and displaced persons in Chechnya (approx. 140 000) and the neighbouring republics of Ingushetia and Dagestan (approx. 80 000). It will help meet the urgent needs of the victims in terms of food, water, shelter, sanitation, health care and psycho-social support. Security measures for the protection of relief workers will also be stepped up. The aid will be channelled through the Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) under the responsibility of Commissioner Poul Nielson, and distributed to the civilian population by humanitarian NGOs and international agencies operating in the country. Nielson commented as follows on the crisis in Chechnya: "The civilian population is a victim of the conflict in Chechnya and almost solely dependent on aid from the international community. The thousands of displaced persons are the most vulnerable and will therefore be the principal recipients of the aid from ECHO. However, the access of humanitarian workers to these innocent victims continues to be hampered. I urge the Russian authorities to do their utmost to guarantee this vital access". The humanitarian situation remains extremely worrying in Chechnya and the neighbouring republics of Ingushetia and Dagestan. Although some return movement began this year, substantial numbers of Chechens are still displaced and living in precarious conditions. Some 70 000 persons displaced by the fighting in Chechnya are living in Ingushetia - aid to these accounts for 40% of ECHO's funding for the northern Caucasus - and Dagestan has taken in a further 8 000. An estimated 140 000 have been displaced in Chechnya itself out of a total population of 700 000. Aid from the international community scarcely covers the basic needs of the local people and displaced persons, victims of a forgotten crisis. The Commission has therefore decided to step up its aid effort in the region by granting a further €9.5 million in humanitarian aid on top of the €16.5 allocated already this year. To ensure that the aid goes to the most vulnerable sections of the local community and displaced persons, clear objectives have been decided. The distribution of food products will continue to be targeted so as to prevent further deterioration in the nutritional condition of the most vulnerable. This decision will finance distributions to some 200 000 persons in Chechnya, 5 000 in Dagestan and 1 500 infants in Ingushetia. ECHO's partners will provide free primary health care to displaced persons in Ingushetia and Dagestan and to the people of Chechnya, particularly children. Psycho-social programmes targeting some 10 000 young people will be set up. To help improve living conditions, ECHO will continue to provide aid for water, sanitation equipment, hygiene and shelter in Grozny and Ingushetia. The distribution of seeds and tools to 30 000 households in Chechnya and Ingushetia should assist income-generating activities and a return to some self-sufficiency. Special measures will be taken to improve the safety of relief workers. The proper implementation and monitoring of these programmes will depend on the security situation and conditions for access to Chechnya which remain unpredictable and far from satisfactory. This year alone
ECHO has contributed a total of €26 million to the people of Chechnya.
Since the start of the current crisis in 1999, the total aid for the
whole of the northern Caucasus amounts to more than €120 million,
making the European Union the leading donor to the region.
Russia is to receive $26m (€21m, £15m) in international food aid to combat hunger in its conflict-torn republic of Chechnya up to 2005, even as it completes its own $11m donation of wheat and maize to malnourished children in Angola and North Korea. James Morris, head of the World Food Programme, who was in Moscow for talks yesterday, said in an interview with the FT that he had just agreed a new 18-month programme to deliver food to Chechen residents, schoolchildren and those displaced by the conflict into neighbouring Ingushetia. The sums include nearly $16m for supplies of basic goods including wheat flour, vegetable oil, sugar and salt to 259,000 Chechens, with the remaining $10m covering transport and administration costs and other overheads. Russia has rejected international criticism of its management of the conflict in Chechnya and offers of mediation, limiting foreign assistance to humanitarian relief. The donors are led by the US, the European Union, Switzerland and the UK. However, the foreign support to Russia comes as Moscow finalises logistics for its long-delayed pledge to donate $11m to the World Food Programme for the first time. Deliveries of maize are currently being sent to Angola, while $10m has been earmarked for wheat for North Korea. Last year Russia approved the principle of contributing to an international appeal for aid to North Korea, in what could have proved an important political coup at a time when Moscow was playing a growing role as an intermediary with Pyongyang and the US. Japan and other foreign donors were cutting back their aid. However, bureaucratic delays mean it is only now being bought, ahead of shipment probably in January or February next year. The aid is targeted at malnourished children. Russian companies would benefit from the aid to North Korea, since most of the $10m donation was being used to buy Russian wheat, which would be transported in Russian ships from the Black Sea. Mr Morris said Russia was not the only country to both give and receive food aid, citing the more modest donations of China and India.
http://daymohk.info/rus/index.php? mode=1&element=4733&PHPSESSID=b15363f2ed3b5de8a14001f9b92bedd1 The Council of Chechen NGOs has reported several cases when young Chechens were detained on the pretext of passport checks and then disappeared, and Chechen civilians were killed in Russian missile attacks. According to some reports, 600 Chechen women blocked roads to the pro-Moscow administration in Groznyy on 6 December, demanding that their missing sons be found and released. The following is the text of the report posted on Chechen news agency Daymohk web site on 10 December; subheadings have been inserted editorially: [No dateline, as received] Crimes of Russian occupiers in Chechnya Russian military bandits are continuing arbitrariness on occupied Chechen territory, abducting civilians for a ransom and committing murder during their systematic bandit attacks in many settlements in the republic, the information sources of Chechen NGOs say. "Hunt" for young Chechens The press service of the Chechen National Salvation Committee reports another wave of a hunt for young people by Russian armed bandits in Chechen towns and villages. So-called clearance operations are continuing in Dzhokhar [Groznyy], Gudermes, Argun and other towns. These operations are being carried out mainly by groups of armed collaborationists from the so-called Chechen OMON [special-purpose police detachment] and [pro-Moscow Chechen President Akhmat] Kadyrov's other bandit groups. Several young people were detained following a "passport regime" check in the Kirov settlement near Dzhokhar. Names of the detainees are being verified, the press service of the Chechen National Salvation Committee reported on Tuesday 9 December. The information centre of the Council of NGOs reports that two young people were detained by Russian bandit groups at the central market in Dzhokhar on 6 December. Witnesses say that several masked armed bandits in military uniforms stopped two young men, checked their papers and took them away. When people inquired why the men had been detained, one of the military criminals said that "the detainees will be set free after a check". Names of the hostages are being verified. Civilian casualties Khamzat Bakinin, a resident of the Starogladkovskaya village in Chechnya's Shelkovskiy District, was killed on the outskirts of the village on 7 December, the information centre reports. Bakinin hit a land mine when shepherding cattle near the village. He died of numerous shrapnel wounds. Local residents say that the mine was planted by Russian invaders. The press service of the Chechen National Salvation Committee says that the village of Makhkety in Chechnya's Vedenskiy District was subjected to a missile attack in the evening of 18 November. This happened during the last 10 days of the holy month of Ramadan. One of the missiles hit a private house, killing a 25-year-old woman named Birlant. Her father, brother and sister received various injuries. Our sources in Ingushetia report systematic arrests of Chechen refugees in the republic. Arrests are being carried out by the Russian special services and local power-wielding agencies. The press service of the Chechen National Salvation Committee reports that Chechen refugee Dui Duishvili, born in 1974, was detained and taken away on 29 November. He is a father of two young children. Nothing is known about his fate. A mass protest was staged in the Chechen capital on 6 December, the information centre of the Council of NGOs has said. Some reports say that about 600 women took part in the protest. They blocked roads leading to the building of Kadyrov's occupying administration. These were mostly the mothers whose children went missing following the Russian occupying force's punitive operations in Chechen settlements. The protesters were carrying placards which read "Stop the war", "Give back our sons", "Say no to war", etc. A day before the protest, a group of women who lost their husbands, sons and brothers picketed the occupying administration in Dzhokhar. It is reported that the deputy prime minister of the Kadyrov administration, [Movsar] Khamidov, met the pickets and suggested that they go to Gudermes "to discuss all the problems". When the poor women went to Gudermes, to the building where collaborationist Khamidov has his office, a group of armed bandits met them and dispersed the protesters by shooting into the air. Women from different districts of Chechnya came to Dzhokhar early in the morning on 6 December. They blocked all the roads to Kadyrov's "government building". They demanded that the occupying authorities find and release all the people taken hostage by the Russian military bandits and collaborationists' armed groups. IA Daymokh 2003-12-10 14:47 2 high-ranking Dagestani police arrested in child abduction probe 11.12.2003, 16:26 MAKHACHKALA, December 11 (Itar-Tass) - Two high-ranking police officers in Dagestan have been arrested in the criminal investigation into the abduction of a 11-year-old boy, a source in the republic's prosecutor's office told Itar-Tass on Thursday. One of the arrested men is Lt-Col Imamutdin Temirbulatov, head of the department combating kidnappings. His colleague from the same department is also in custody, the source said. Prosecutors explained the prolonged lack of information about the whereabouts of the abducted boy with the fact that he had been searched by those involved in the kidnapping. Dzhamal Gamidov, 11, the son of Dagestan's former finance minister Gamid Gamidov, has been in captivity for three years, from June 15, 2000. He was freed on Wednesday, in an operation by Dagestan police. The boy's father,
Gamid Gamidov was killed on August 20, 1996 on the front staircase leading
to the building of the Finance Ministry. The explosion in which he died
also killed several bodyguards and injured dozens of people. This crime
remains unsolved. 11-year-old hostage released from captivity in Dagestan 11.12.2003, 10:42 MAKHACHKALA, December 11 (Itar-Tass) - Dzhamal Gamidov, 11 years old, the son of Gamid Gamidov, ex-finance minister of Dagestan, has been released from captivity. Doctors describe his health condition as satisfactory. Dzhamal was kept as hostage for three years and a half, Lieutenant General Adilgerey Magomedtagirov told Itar-Tass on Thursday. Dzhamal Gamidov was set free by the police in the village of Zarechnoye, near Khasavyurt, on Wednesday. Several people were arrested during the police operation, who are suspected of having taken part in the kidnapping of the boy. According to General Magomedtagirov, it is quite probable that police officers were involved in it. "The boy is very thin and exhausted. Most probably, the kidnappers kept him in horrible conditions. The best doctors of the republic are now working for bringing his health back to normal," General Magomedtagirov said. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
2003-12-11 12:28 YOUNG HOSTAGE RELEASED IN CHECHNYA MAKHACHKALA, December 11 (RIA Novosti correspondent Dekabr Beibutov) - Jamal Gamidov, who was held hostage for three and a half years in Chechnya, has been released, the press service of Daghestan's Interior Ministry told RIA Novosti. He is the 11 year-old son of Gamid Gamidov, the late finance minister of Daghestan and the deputy of the 1st State Duma. The Interior Ministry spokesman said that law enforcement officers managed to release the abducted boy on Wednesday in the Zarechnoye settlement near the city of Khasavyurt. The abducted boy's father was killed 10 years ago in Makhachkala (administrative center of Daghestan). Another version..... 12:50 2003-12-11
Eleven-year-old Jamal Gamidov, the son of the late Finance Minister of Daghestan (a North Caucasian republic within Russia) and Deputy of the 1st State Duma Gamid Gamidov, who was held hostage for three and a half years in Chechnya, has been released. RIA Novosti was told about this in the press service of Daghestan's Interior Ministry on Thursday. The abducted boy's father was killed 10 years ago in Makhachkala (administrative center of Daghestan). The Interior Ministry spokesman said that law enforcement officers managed to release the abducted boy on Wednesday in the settlement of Zarechnoye near the city of Khasavyurt when they were searching for the criminals who killed the local police inspector. Right after the release the teenager was placed in the Khasavyurt city hospital. He is emaciated, the Interior Ministry spokesman said. Several persons suspected of involvement in the boy's abduction were detained during his release. The information obtained is being checked.
Homemade bombs kills two young militants in Chechnya GROZNY, December 11 (RIA Novosti) - Two boys (12 and 14) were blown up in Chechnya while they were planting a homemade bomb, the regional operational headquarters for controlling the anti-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus told RIA Novosti. A spokesman for the headquarters said that militants from Dadayev's gang supplied the boys with a bomb. "The bandits demanded that the boys plant the device on the road between Grozny and the village of Prigorodnoye." The spokesman said that when federal agents inspected the area they found the bodies of two children. The boys were later identified as Islam Abuyev and Yuvadi Mutaliyev from the village of Prigorodnoye, Grozny district. "A criminal case
has been launched," the spokesman said. "The bandits, who used children
for terrorist acts, are being searched for." Two teenagers blown up in homemade bomb [fougasse] explosion in Chechnya A source in Chechnya reportes that in the Grozny-rural district two teenagers were killed by a fougasse explosion. Although, in the press- center of Russia's occupational forces reported to Interfax that supposedly the teenagers were blown up when planting a homemade bomb. December 10th 2003 · Prague Watchdog Chechen human rights defenders receive legal training in Nazran Timur Aliyev, North Caucasus – A training seminar for members of Chechenhuman rights organizations was held in Nazran on December 10. Accordingto one of the organizers, Vladimir Weissman of the InternationalHelsinki Federation (IHF), the goal was to teach the proper way ofwriting applications to be filed with the European Court of HumanRights, the UN Human Rights Committee and other international bodies. Weissman emphasized that the significance of the seminar was connectedto the numerous human rights violations in Chechnya. “Our training wasaimed at some very specific cases,” he said. The agenda included several legal consultations with Karina Moskalenko,director of the Moscow-based International Protection Centre . “Today welooked at how to make inquiries into the cases of people who have beenjailed for a long time and have not yet received any sentencing. Theattendees were taught how to write an appeal to the prosecutor´s office.Very few knew that such an appeal must be reviewed within five days,”Moskalenko said. This was the fourth international law seminar of the InternationalHelsinki Federations´s legal training series. The organizers were theIHF and the International Protection Centre. Special commission to control payment of indemnity in Chechnya Itar-Tass: Special
commission to control paymenytof indemnity in Chechnya GROZNY, December
12 (Itar-Tass) - The commission has been set up at the instruction of the Chechen president, head of the commission, vice premier of the Chechen government supervising the security forces' activity Movsar Khamidov told Tass in Friday. According to Khamidov, the Chechen government and other organizations receive information from citizens about bribe taking for execution and payment of an indemnity by several clerks. Khamidov said the commission together with law enforcement agencies will make a narrow inquiry into every elicited fact of corruption.
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