Home

Up

Ingush flee Russia's Ossetia after school attack 15 Sep 2004 13:19:33 GMT Source: Reuters NAZRAN, Russia, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Vakha, a 33-year-old Ingush, still lives in North Ossetia, where a school siege this month in the town of Beslan ended with the death of more than 300 people. But he has sent his wife and childfren away to Ingushetia for fear that anger against North Ossetia's Ingush minority may again spill over into violence in Russia's volatile North Caucasus. Residents of Ingushetia say thousands of their fellow Ingush who live in North Ossetia have fled the region in the two weeks since the school attack, blamed on radical Islamist Chechens and Ingush. "I didn't want to send them away but my father said I had to," Vakha told Reuters recently in Nazran, the largest town in Ingushetia, a sliver of land between North Ossetia and Chechnya. "He wants me to stay in Ingushetia as well, but I can't leave him or my mother. "I don't know when I can bring them back to Ossetia. In our village, lots of people have sent their children and women away. Only men remain. We have had no problems with the Ossetians so far, but we are ready to fight if we must." Anger against the Ingush was widespread in North Ossetia after the three-day siege in Beslan, where militants seized some 1,100 hostages and demanded independence for Chechnya. Half the 320 hostages who died in the bloodbath that ended the siege were children. Ossetians staged demonstrations in mainly Ingush areas to voice anger and suspicion, local media reported, while troops tightened control of the border between the two regions. Officials called meetings for community leaders to ease tension. Local officials were quick to blame international terrorists for the attack, saying 10 of the hostage takers were Arabs. Critics say they had no proof and were trying to head off ethnic violence by diverting blame from the Ossetians' neighbours. HISTORY OF CLASHES The two nations have clashed before and fought a brief war after the collapse of the Soviet Union over disputed land. Some 19,000 Ingush are still refugees from that conflict, their plight overshadowed by the larger number of refugees from the decade- long war further east in Chechnya. They warned the new arrivals not to expect to go home soon. "What happened in Beslan was the Ossetians' fault for letting people through checkpoints and taking bribes. They won't let me go back to my own home," Dzhrabail Gandarov, 67, said by the hut where he has lived in a refugee camp since 1992. "The Ossetians want to take our land and be the main nation in the Caucasus. The Russians are helping them. Allah forbid that anything should start, but if it does, then we will fight." Karabulak, the site of the camp, has been affected by an increasing overspill of fighting from the Chechen war, as has most of Ingushetia. Rights groups say kidnappings and murders have soared and rebels have launched large-scale raids. Any clashes with Ossetians could spiral out of control among a nation already prepared for war, say the refugees. The end of mourning on October 13 could provide the occasion. "Every member of our family has a gun. I think after the mournings and the burials the Ossetians will try to do something," said Roza Seynaroyeva, 53. "I am scared to send my grandchildren to school in case something happens." Russia School Siege Victims Unlikely to Get Aid — Nord-Ost Group Created: 16.09.2004 10:50 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 10:58 MSK, MosNews Doubts have been raised about whether the victims of the Beslan siege will ever receive any significant part of the money sent by people from around the world. Tatyana Karpova, co-chairperson of the public organization Nord-Ost, which brings together those who fell victim to the terrorist attack at Moscow's Dubrovka theatre in 2002, told Ekho Moskvy radio that she had serious doubts whether the Beslan victims would receive the substantial funds being raised in many countries. "Healthy bank accounts were opened for us too, but the victims of the Dubrovka theatre siege have not received a great deal of assistance, everything disappeared somewhere," Karpova said. Karpova, who has gone to Beslan herself, said that the local authorities were not helping people wishing to render support to the former hostages and their families. "We tried to seek the Beslan administration's assistance, asked them to give us local committees' accounts and help us meet these people. The administration said that Beslan is a rich town, which is not in need of money," she said. "Bank account [numbers] were announced in Moscow and anybody can provide aid to Beslan victims. It will be a pity if the funds are misappropriated," Karpova added. She went on to say that the best way would be not to make bank transfers but to try and help the former hostages themselves. "We should look for these families and get in touch with them." A committee set up by Beslan's teachers has made a list of the most needy people and is ready to make it public so that volunteers can transfer money directly to local residents. Karpova's committee has also opened its own bank account, but only R500 has been donated so far, she added.