Senior UN Official Pays Visit to Grozny

By Mara D. Bellaby The Associated Press A senior United Nations official said Tuesday that the civilian population in Chechnya is still suffering, Grozny is devastated and the international community must be prepared to help those Chechen refugees who never want to return home.

After a brief and high-security visit to Grozny, UN Undersecretary- General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland said a big stream of refugees were voluntarily going home monthly and conditions were "certainly better," but housing is still inadequate, there are not enough schools and security remains a real concern.

He declared that the United Nations would hold Russia to its promise not to force or pressure any refugees to return.

"The humanitarian suffering of the civilian population is by no means over," Egeland said by telephone from Nazran, Ingushetia, after his one-day trip to Grozny and two refugee camps in Ingushetia. "Grozny is as devastated as I've seen any war-torn city anywhere."

Egeland made a lightning-quick tour of the Satsita and Bart camps, home to some 6,000 refugees. He also visited a temporary center in Grozny for returning refugees that he said is overcrowded -- home to 1,400 people but with only latrines and no functioning toilet.

"There is an enormous lack of housing for people," he said of Chechnya. "The security situation is still very bad. There are still severe human rights problems. There is not enough schooling."

Egeland said he won promises from government officials in Ingushetia and Chechnya that no one would be pressured to return. Authorities, eager to portray Chechnya as stabilizing, have been campaigning to close the tent camps, promising housing and compensation for property destroyed during fighting.

Chechen authorities this month proposed dismantling the tent camps in Ingushetia by March 1.

Stanislav Ilyasov, the Cabinet minister in charge of Chechnya, told Egeland on Monday, however, that "no one will be forced to move to Chechnya."

"We will now with a hawk's eye follow the developments and hold them to their promise," Egeland said.

Liza Gamayeva, a refugee at the Satsita camp, who spoke briefly to Egeland, complained that although she fled from Grozny, officials were offering to move her to either Sernovodsk, 60 kilometers from Grozny, or Argun, 25 kilometers from the capital.

"I personally want to come back to Grozny and I will, but let them pay compensation to my family," Gamayeva said. "Our home was completely destroyed."

A refugee at the Bart camp, Sultanbekova Khava, said she is afraid to return to Chechnya. "I don't want to go anywhere," she said. "I am afraid for my kids. If the camp is closed, I'll find a corner someplace here."

Egeland said that, nevertheless, the tent camps have obviously been emptying out as "people now return in great numbers."

"Our impression is that most of the displaced return voluntarily," he said, adding that those he met in Chechnya did not regret coming back despite "conditions not at all being easy."

But Egeland said there will be some "who will not want to go back home at all, who will feel too insecure, feel that they have nothing to return to."

He called on Russian, Chechen and Ingush officials to give them "a future" where they are and "we the international community need to help them."

Jan Egeland visits refugee camps in Ingushetia

The return of Chechen refugees to Chechnya must be voluntary, deputy secretary general in charge of humanitarian aid Jan Egeland said today. According to Russia's NTV, today Egeland visited refugee camps on the territory of Ingushetia to familiarize with the situation. According to him, people are likely to return themselves as soon as Russia's authorities guarantee their safety on the territory of Chechnya. Egeland believes that UN and international groups must continue with supplying humanitarian aid to residents of Chechnya.

[27.01.2004 19:12] The Chechen Times

[27.01.2004 14:11] Ekho Moskvy