Chechen oil industry takes its toll on environment

The oil industry of Chechnya is the primary cause of poor environmental conditions in the republic, says Sharpudi Astamirov, a leading expert in Grozny's Department of Industry and Environment.

He states that the main factors degrading the environment are burning oil wells, which release carbon compounds into the atmosphere, condensing pits and homegrown oil-processing plants, along with ignoring rules for operating industrial equipment and transporting the extracted oil and its products.

According to Astamirov, in the Zavodskoi and Oktyabrsky districts of Grozny, where the main oil-processing facilities are concentrated, the soil is saturated 17 meters deep with oil products.

He complains that the managers of "Grozneft" and its mini plants do not understand the seriousness of the problem and its impact on the environment.

"Before war broke out in 1994, Grozny was among the top ten environmentally worse cities in the post-Soviet countries. Yet even now the situation has not improved, despite that large industrial complexes and factories have been destroyed and are now non-operational," he added.

The Ministry of Health of the Chechen Republic agrees that all these factors have a negative impact on people's health. According to Ministry records, more than half the population of the republic are considered to be unhealthy; and approximately 40 percent of the children already had health problems at birth.

[19.12.2003 11:35] Timur Aliyev/Prague Watchdog


19 December 2003 [BBC Monitoring]

NGOs report Russians arrest young Chechens

Several young men were detained in a "clearance" operation carried out by Russian troops jointly with the local police in the village of Samashki in Chechnya's Achkhoy-Martanovskiy District on 19 December, the web site of the Council of Non-governmental Organizations of Chechnya has reported.

The Ingush police detained a young Chechen refugee from Groznyy in the Ingush city of Nazran on 18 December and took him to an unknown destination, the web site said.

The Council of Non-governmental Organizations reported that another young Chechen was detained by the police in the village of Belorechye in Chechnya's Gudermesskiy District on 17 December and then taken away. Employees of the law-enforcement agencies broke into a flat in a Groznyy suburb on the morning of 17 December and arrested two young men without reading out any charges against them, the web site reported.

Rustam Akhmadov was arrested at the central market in Groznyy on 16 December. The police maintain that the young man had participated in military operations and was put on the Russian wanted list, the web site said.

Kidnapped Dutch citizen taken from Dagestan to Chechnya

Azeri news agency

Baku, Turan News Agency, 19 December: The unexpected raid of Chechen mojahedin into Dagestan's Tsuntinskiy District on 15 December aimed to free [Dutch citizen] Arjan Erkel, employee of the international organization Medecins Sans Frontieres [Doctors Without Borders].

As a result of this operation, the mojahedin discovered Erkel in a hospital in the village of Shuari and successfully took him to Chechnya. Turan news agency has learnt this sensational news from informed sources at the Chechen diaspora in Baku.

[Passage omitted: Reported details of Erkel's story]

According to the latest information, Erkel's condition is normal. However, he needs medical aid due to serious exhaustion and difficult transportation through mountain passes in the winter time. Meanwhile, the Russian military is trying to give the impression that they are fighting militants in the mountains by bombing villages and roads.


Several robberies have occured in Chechnya over past days

GROZNY. Dec 18 (Interfax) - A number of robberies and assaults have occurred in Chechnya over the past few days in which property, money and jewelry have been stolen. Several armed people in camouflage uniforms broke into a house in Grozny and stole a large sum of money, golden jewelry and a vehicle at gunpoint, a source in the Chechen Interior Ministry told Interfax on Thursday. They also stole the identification documents of several tenants.

Armed robbers also broke into a house in Samashki in the Achkhoi- Martan district where they beat up the tenants and stole gold jewelry, clothing, footwear and other valuables, the source said. The source said that the rebels were trying to get money for buying armaments, ammunition and uniforms.

Chechenpress


Friday, 19 December 2003

The refugees in Pankisi fear of provocations on the part of the Russianspecial services

The refugees from Chechnya are afraid that in the period preceding theextraordinary presidential elections in Georgia Pankisi can become againa target of the Russian special services.

As it is known, the Assistant Chief of the North Caucasus RegionalDepartment Border Guards service of the FSS, Major General Solovyovdeclared that the fighters, who shot up the frontier guards in theTsuntinsky district of Daghestan, had arranged winter bases in Georgia.

“At present we do not have full information about the group, but theeyewitnesses say there are the Arabs, Daghestanians and Chechens there”– told Solovyov.

According to the chief of the International Chechen Committee for HumanRights Aslanbek Abdurzakov, in difficult periods of the Georgian-Russianrelations the theme of Pankisi Gorge always emerges as one of the meansof destabilization of the situation in Georgia.

According to him, the statement made recently by the Russian party withregard to the movement of the fighters along the frontier, are notaccidental, and the events of Daghestan can be used as grounds for newaccusations addressed to Georgia. “Pankisi is an important card forRussia in this respect, and any aggravation of the situation in theregion can be used to Russia's liking”, - added he.

Aslanbek Abdurzakov noted that the Chechen refugees in Pankisi Gorgeunderstand the importance of stability in Georgia in the given period,and as far as possible collaborate with the Georgian special services inorder to prevent any possible provocation on the part of Russia.

D.Kakhidze, Chechenpress.

http://www.chechenpress.info/english/news/12_2003/1_19_12.shtml