| Chechen refugee
camp closes
From correspondents in Moscow AFP, 02apr04 ONE of the two remaining tent camps for Chechen refugees in the Ingushetia republic on the border of war-torn Chechnya closed overnight, Russia's federal migration service said. "Sputnik, one of the two remaining camps, closed today. The last 137 people there have gone back to Chechnya," Yelena Alexeyeva, a spokeswoman for the service, said. "The only tent camp remaining in Ingushetia is Satsita, which currently has 1900 refugees," Alexeyeva said. In January then minister for Chechnya Stanislav Ilyasov vowed to close Ingushetia's tent camps by March 1, though authorities backed off the deadline after an outcry by rights groups. The camps in Ingushetia are an embarrassment to the Kremlin, which insists that the war that it launched in the Caucasus republic is over and the refugees can safely return home. But many of the refugees have refused to return because a guerrilla war between separatists and pro-Moscow forces continues to claim lives on nearly a daily basis and random kidnappings are common. Authorities have been luring refugees back to Chechnya with promises of compensation for lost homes. As of February 13, 65,208 refugees had registered for assistance with United Nations-affiliated international organisations in Ingushetia, according to UN figures. Out of these, 5678 were in the three tent camps, 24,035 in temporary settlements, and 35,495 in private accommodation. Russia: Authorities Close Ingush Camp, But Call Returns To Chechnya Voluntary By Sergei Danilochkin One of two remaining camps in Ingushetia housing internally displaced persons from Chechnya was closed yesterday. The authorities are trying to encourage Chechens to return to their homeland, claiming the situation there is improving. Prague, 2 April 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Russian authorities in Ingushetia yesterday closed one of the last remaining camps for displaced persons from Chechnya. In the end, about 140 people were living in the Sputnik border camp, which once housed more than 9,000 people. Akhmed Barakhoev, an official with the Memorial human rights center in Ingushetia, said camp dwellers began leaving in earnest about a week ago. Camp residents told Memorial officials that they were leaving voluntarily but, Barakhoev said, the conversations took place in front of police officers and immigration officials. Asu Dudurkaev, chief of the migration department of the Chechen Interior Ministry, is reported to have said the camp dwellers voluntarily decided to return to Chechnya. Isa Gondarov is a member of the Memorial organization. He and his colleagues recently visited the Sputnik camp. Gondarov said only a dozen tents remained when they arrived and that people were loading their belongings onto trucks. Gondarov said the authorities had offered camp dwellers the chance to move to a nearby temporary settlement in Ingushetia. But he said the majority of the 30 families remaining in Sputnik decided to repatriate to Chechnya. More than 40,000 internally displaced people remain in Ingushetia outside the camps, living in settlements located in abandoned factories and Soviet-era collective farms. "Many of Sputnik camp residents didn't want to move to that settlement. And they went [instead] to Chechnya to their relatives. They hoped for the housing promised by the authorities by 7 April. But they had real doubts about that and that they would be given that housing. Judging by their words, it was possible to say that they were moving to Chechnya at random. They do not have a place to live and hoped to stay with relatives or friends," Gondarov said. RFE/RL Russian Service correspondent Dmitri Alexandrov said the Sputnik camp residents felt pressured by the authorities to move back to Chechnya but were resigned to their fate. "As opposed to other refugee camps closures, the Sputnik camp happened calmly. But there is an explanation for that. For about a month or two, both Ingush and Chechen officials have been visiting the camp almost daily. They were telling people pretty bluntly that the camp would be closed anyway. The refugees would have to leave and the authorities would not care about their existence anymore. That is why they encouraged people to volunteer. In that case, they promised transportation to move to Chechnya. So people submitted to that," Alexandrov said. Fatima has lived in the Sputnik camp for four years. In an interview yesterday with RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service, she spoke about the degrading conditions in which her family has lived in the camp: "We can see that the war is not over. And we see that the situation is migrating to Ingushetia. In a while, we will have to flee from here as well. We cannot understand why they are calling on us to go home. We would return and nobody would have to ask us. We would run and not ask for any transportation from the authorities. If we were guaranteed security, we would return. Who would like to live in a room four-by-four meters without utilities? And we are a family of seven. We survive here without allowances. We are looking for jobs. Throughout four years, we have continued hunting for a job. I was pasting wallpaper and doing other things. We earn our bread and survive little by little. We do not count on humanitarian aid, not that we get any of it. We have never relied on it." Timur Akiev, a member of Memorial, said those returning to Chechnya will face problems trying to find places to live. Akiev said that, to survive in Chechnya, returnees will only have themselves to depend on. "There are practically no state aid allowances to such people [who decide to return to Chechnya]. And they have to look for jobs to earn their bread. If there are jobs available, they take them. If not, many try to work at markets and others survive as they can -- with the help of relatives and friends," Akiev said. While the situation in the camps in Ingushetia was bleak, Akiev said conditions in Chechnya are even worse. "It is impossible to say that the situation [in Chechnya] is stabilizing or improving. There are still people who disappear, killed people are still being found in Chechnya. So [neither] in Chechnya nor in Russia can the returning refugees be provided any security guarantees. So, people return because of despair. Can you imagine how it is to live in tents for three or four years, malnourished and not getting enough sleep? Kids are constantly falling ill. And nobody knows when the war in Chechnya ends and the situation returns to normal. And people do not have anything else left than to go back to their homeland. Here they are forgotten about," Akiev said. Russian and Chechen authorities are offering some incentives for displaced persons -- including accommodation in Chechnya and compensation for destroyed homes of up to 350,000 rubles, or about $12,000. Abdukabir Baibatyrov, who heads the committee in charge of the compensation, promised on local television that the owners of about two-thirds of the 30,000 houses that have been certified as destroyed will receive compensation. About 10,000 more homeowners are still waiting for inspections. Meanwhile, the last tent camp in Ingushetia -- Satsita -- is due to be closed by early May. Russian and Chechen authorities claim the situation in the breakaway republic is improving and point to a string of recent military successes. Russian news agencies on 2 April reported that the head of Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov's personal guard had surrendered to Russian forces. Interfax and ITAR-TASS quoted Ilya Shabalkin, spokesman for Russian troops in the Northern Caucasus, as saying Shaa Turlaev had turned himself in. However, reports of violence in Chechnya continue. Two policemen were killed and four injured in an explosion in the republic's second- largest city of Gudermes on 2 April. (RFE/RL's Russian and North Caucasus services contributed to this report.)
Payment of lost-housing compensations in Chechnya not satisfactory ROSTOV-ON-DON, APRIL 1. /RIA NOVOSTI / -- The payment of lost-housing compensations in the Chechen republic is "extremely unsatisfactory", Vladimir Yakovlev, presidential plenipotentiary in the Southern federal district, told the conference on the payment of compensations and the return of persons temporarily displaced from Chechnya. Yakovlev explained that, according to the plan, in only the first quarter of this year up to 6,000 families losing housing in Chechnya were to get monetary compensations. As of now, only 1,800 people have got them, Yakovlev said. "Work is not over yet to resettle persons temporarily displaced outside Chechnya and it is to be fixed how to continue this work", Yakovlev said. He spoke up on the fulfilment of the federal target programme for rehabilitation of Chechnya and, citing the Audit Chamber figures, noted that "violations of legislation have been detected at actually every checked facility". There are also facts of misuse of monetary resources. To Yakovlev, over two billion roubles (35 roubles approximately equal 1 euro) has been used unlawfully. The presidential plenipotentiary has instructed Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov to look into the situation and, if need be, turn to the prosecutor office.
Family Shot in Chechnya’s Urus-Martanov District CHECHNYA. (SNO Information Centre) On 31 March in the village of Gekh,Urus-Martanov, Aishat Kunkaeva, born 1949 and her two children MadinaKukaeva, born 1977 and Khalid Kukaev, born 1968 were found dead in theirown home. According to information received from local residents, Aishat Kunkaevawas the boss at the Gekhi post office where her daughter was also apostal worker. Motives for the murders and the perpetrators of the crimehave not been established. Local residents believe the murder of theKunkaev family could have been committed as part of a burglary. Translated by Sue-Ann Harding
Press-release: Dr. Khanbiev speaks at the United Nations Commission forHuman Rights 02 April 2004, Dr. Oumar Khanbiev, the Minister of Health and the GeneralRepresentative of the President, addressed this morning in Geneva the60th session of the United Nations Human Rights Commission. In his speech, Dr. Khanbiev emphasized that “Russia is not engaged inan "anti-terrorist campaign" but in a colonial war and a shamefulcampaign of terror aimed at the physical and moral destruction of theChechen people”. Oumar Khanbiev underlined that there can be no military solution to thecentury-old Russian-Chechen conflict and that “the Russian leadershipwill not have the will and the moral fortitude to engage in a seriouspolitical dialogue” without a serious international intervention. Dr. Oumar Khanbiev, speaking also on behalf of the Transnational RadicalParty, urged the United Nations “to give the highest priority inconsidering Aslan Maskhadov's Peace Plan” that calls for a setting up atemporary UN administration for Chechnya. The Chechen Foreign Ministry presents Dr. Khanbiev’s speech in Russianand English languages bellow. ---------------------------------- Speech by Minister Khanbiev: " Thank you Mr. Chairman, My name is Umar Khanbiev. I speak on behalf of the Transnational RadicalParty, being also a member of its General Council. Three years ago I spoke in this same room and my speech provoked loudprotest from the Russian delegation. I was testifying to Russian crimesagainst humanity and asking for help to stop the genocide of the Chechenpeople. What changes have occurred since then? Unfortunately none. The only difference is that the number of peoplekilled, maimed and disappearing, has increased by hundred of thousands.This is the price of your lack of action. Concentration camps, torture(including torture aimed at destroying fertility), non judicialexecutions, kidnappings, trading in hostages and corpses, deathsquadrons, experiments with poisons on detainees, hidden mass graves -such is the reality of Chechnya today. On some occasions young people have been tied together and blown up inpublic to intimidate the population. Every type of weapons has been usedagainst the civilians, including weapons forbidden by the GenevaConvention, such as incendiary and air vacuum fuel bombs. We haverecords of new combined chemical-bacterial weapons being used. According to data compiled by the Ministry of Health of the Republic ofChechnya and independent NGOs, 25% of the Chechen population hasperished since the beginning of the war, 30% becoming refugees. Thepeople who remain in Chechnya have become hostages and are subjecteddaily to air bombing, artillery bombardment, "clean-up" operations andexecutions. It is time to understand that Russia is not engaged in an"anti-terrorist campaign" but in a colonial war and a shameful campaignof terror aimed at the physical and moral destruction of the Chechen people. Mr Chairman, President Aslan Maskhadov, has repeatedly stated that he is ready tostart a dialogue with the international community. Should the UN beprepared to listen to his reasonable appeals, the lives of thousands ofchildren, women and elderly people could be saved. The international community has refused to intervene, closing its eyeson the way Russia has made a parody of democratic institutions.Referendum and elections were conducted at gun point. The situation isgetting worse every day. The Chechens will not accept the QuislingKadyrov. Without a serious international intervention, the Russianleadership will not have the will and the moral fortitude to engage in aserious political dialogue. Taking note of the Resolution of the European Parliament adopted on 26thFebruary 2004 (recognising the 1944 Stalin's deportation as an act ofgenocide and stating its willingness to consider President Maskhadov'sPeace Plan), we request that the UN should also take measures. Mr. Chairman, Fully aware that there cannot be a military solution to the century-oldRussian-Chechen conflict, the Transnational Radical Party urges thisaugust body to give the highest priority in considering AslanMaskhadov's Peace Plan for a political solution that could put an end tothis genocide war. This proposal stipulates that independence is not agoal in itself but the only mean of survival in the face of constantRussian terror. It suggests setting up a temporary UN administration inorder to allow Chechnya to be demilitarised and to develop democraticinstitutions while safeguarding the interests of both warring parties. I thank you, Mr. Chairman"
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