| MEMBERSHIP HAS
ITS PRIVILEGES...
The most useful document for a Chechen trying to get through a military checkpoint as quickly as possible is a membership card in the pro-Putin United Russia party. That was one of the discoveries made by Tatiana Lokshina of the Moscow Helsinki Group during her visit to Chechnya to cover last month's parliamentary election, which she reported in a long article published on the Polit.ru website on January 5. In a village in the southern highlands, a school principal confided to Lokshina that "frankly, I hate this United Russia" even though "it is popular because the other parties in principle don't even exist." Especially attracted to the pro-Putin party are young men, the principal said, because "after all they have to find some way to travel! At checkpoints they can use a membership card in United Russia instead of a pass. Or if they are caught in a security sweep, they just show their United Russia card and they are allowed to go free." By chance, on her flight back to Moscow Lokshina happened to sit next to a vacationing Grozny policeman who confirmed the school principal's words. He said that he had recently joined United Russia precisely in order to "get around easily." Lokshina replied, "But you are a policeman, they should already let you pass without problems!" The young man explained that his party card was "a hundred times" more useful than his police I.D.--and also that "if you are a member of the party, they can't fire you from your job." ...AN OMINOUS CALM IN GROZNY Lokshina found Grozny to be genuinely more peaceful than it had been two months earlier: "The night was quiet, almost without gunfire....no comparison with October." She saw this as a sign that "during these two months much has changed. The war has ended, but in its place has crept in a slippery, muddy, criminal, black nothingness. Strange as it may seem, this swamp is even more frightening than the war. After all every war eventually comes to an end, with negotiations and a peace agreement. But this all-devouring swamp has no end; it could go on forever. That's what is really terrifying." Another contrast with October, she wrote, was the new reluctance of Grozny's residents to speak candidly with a journalist--even in the anonymity of the open-air market. Two months earlier vendors and shoppers had been willing to vent their opinions freely, even to denounce Kadyrov, but in December their response was to smile politely and change the subject. Lokshina's Chechen traveling companion explained that "everyone is now afraid to say one unnecessary word. There are security sweeps all over the city...They now have no hope whatsoever, so they keep their mouths shut." Lokshina was also struck by the total absence of progress in the physical rebuilding of Grozny. Previously she had entertained what she called "the illusion that Kadyrov as president, for self-promotion or just for decency's sake, would get busy with the quick restoration of Grozny. It somehow seems strange to talk about the revival of peaceful life when the capital city is in ruins. But my illusion dissolved within minutes--it turns out that not one ounce of flesh has appeared on the city's bare skeleton." On December 7, election day, Lokshina visited various polling places both in Grozny and elsewhere, just as she had done two months earlier for the presidential election. The biggest change she noticed was that, in December, Grozny's residents did not flee to the countryside from fear of terrorist attacks. The bazaars and shops were open; the streets had their usual flow of cars and pedestrians. But she found the same cynicism about politics: "When I asked people how the election would go, they answered 'Just like the presidential election. Nothing depends on us, it's useless to vote.'" Billboards and other advertisements were in evidence for only two parties: United Russia and the People's Party. In the Grozny polling places that she visited, "the representatives of the local election-district commissions--all of them, without exception--complained about the low activity of the electorate. As of 11 a.m., on the average only about 10 percent had turned out to vote." True, officials told her that more would be coming out to vote in the evening--a familiar tale from her October experience. In one district, where only 100 of some 1800 eligible voters had appeared as of noon, the head of the local commission said that she was hoping for a total of 600. This was in contrast to what she said had been a turnout of 1500 in the October balloting. One other recent novelty: The personnel inspecting passports at the military checkpoints now include women. They sometimes conduct body searches of female Chechen civilians, who are regarded with greater suspicion than they were a year ago--for obvious reasons. 7 January 2004, Volume VI, Issue 1 - The Jamestown Foundation CHECHNYA WEEKLY: News and analysis on the crisis in Chechnya OFFICIALS HIGHLIGHTED ASSASSINATED The Moscow daily Nezavisimaya gazeta, usually skeptical of the official line on Chechnya, accused rebel guerrillas of assassinating mayors and other local district heads in an article published on December 17. On the previous day rebels had killed Nurdi Elmurzaev, mayor of the village of Alkhan-Kala near Grozny, after ambushing his car, the newspaper reported. It also pointed out that the mayor of Shali had been killed in October and that of Chechen-Aul in September. The newspaper suggested that the "increasing frequency" of such assassinations in recent months is yet another proof that the Kadyrov administration's much-ballyhooed "amnesty" of guerrillas has failed. It also noted that during last fall's election campaign Kadyrov's circle had spoken promisingly about negotiations with guerrilla leader Ruslan Gelaev--but that since then, the administration has failed to produce any concrete results. 7 January 2004, Volume VI, Issue 1 - The Jamestown Foundation CHECHNYA WEEKLY: News and analysis on the crisis in Chechnya RIGHTS GROUP PUBLICIZES VIOLENT RAID IN GROZNY On December 19 the human rights center Memorial published a detailed account of a raid on Chechen civilians in Grozny's Lenin district. The victims of the attack were residents of one of the Kadyrov administration's temporary resettlement centers for new returnees from Ingushetia. These are the same refugees who have repeatedly been told by the administration that it is now safe for them to come back to Chechnya. The refugees are certain that the attackers were Chechens--indeed, that they were troops from one of the Kadyrov administration's own security agencies. The attack took place on the evening of December 8. A large group of masked gunmen descended on the resettlement center, forcibly disarmed and beat its two guards (who had only one pistol between them), then dispersed through the building while beating every refugee whom they encountered. They shouted abuse in Russian. Stunningly, according to the Memorial account the attackers quickly backed down when one of the administrators of the resettlement center, a Chechen woman, told one of them "I can see from your eyes that you are a Chechen." After that the gunmen no longer tried to conceal that they were in fact Chechens, and they soon left without taking any captives. The residents of the resettlement center have since sent a written protest to Kadyrov, demanding that his administration defend them from further such attacks by its gunmen. They have received no reply. The Kadyrov-controlled local television station has ignored the event, and the security agencies have responded with silence. 7 January 2004,
Volume VI, Issue 1 - The Jamestown Foundation CHECHNYA WEEKLY: News
and analysis on the crisis in Chechnya Intl humanitarian organizations may close programs in Chechnya 08.01.2004, 19.19 MOSCOW, January 8 (Itar-Tass) - A number of international and non- governmental humanitarian organizations may close their programs to help the Chechen population and refugees, because their permits to work in the republic expire on April 1, 2004, an official said on Thursday. "The permit to work in Chechnya, issued to many organizations, expires on April 1. It is within the competence of the federal center to extend it," Chechnya's Deputy Prime Minister in charge of welfare Bilkhis Baidayeva told Itar-Tass in an interview. Already now a Danish humanitarian organization is scaling down its operation in the republic. Many organizations do not have their offices in Chechnya, being based in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia, which decreases the effectiveness of humanitarian assistance, Baidayeva said. "The most active humanitarian assistance is provided by Germany's Karitas, which built a kindergarten, and the International Committee of the Red Cross that helped build a bakery, she emphasized. Last November, the United Nations and 20 non-governmental organizations urged the international community to allocate some 62 million dollars in aid for Chechnya in 2004. The purpose of the action is to contribute to the constant efforts by the Russian government to rebuild the republic. Half of the money is intended for food aid to Chechen residents and refugees, while 18 million dollars will be allocated for housing, education and health care. The 20 non-governmental organizations that called for more aid for Chechnya included the World Health Organization, the World Food Program, UNISEF, UNESCO and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Grozny, January 8, 2004. (RIA Novosti) -- Chechen premier pledges to sort out 'eyesore' refugee camps in Ingushetia Tent camps for refugees should be sorted out before 1 March, acting Prime Minister of Chechnya Eli Isayev has said. "These three tent camps in Ingushetia are an eyesore," he said. RIA has been told at the press service of the Chechen government that on Thursday Isayev chaired a meeting in Grozny attended by prominent religious leaders, including Supreme Mufti of Chechnya Akhmet-Khadzhi Shamayev. Moving refugees from the tent camps to temporary accommodation in Chechnya came under discussion in light of the fact that, as a result of worn-out equipment and tents, the living conditions in the camps have become impossible. At the same time, it was pointed out at the meeting that the refugees should be moved only on a "voluntary basis". "If necessary, refugees who want to stay in Ingushetia and do not want to go back should be provided with accommodation by 1 March," Isayev said. According to him, it is mainly people who either intermarried during their stay in Ingushetia or people who have found jobs in Ingushetia who want to stay there. There are also people who do not want to go back for political reasons, Isayev said. According to him, in the immediate future he will go to Ingushetia and discuss with the republic's government joint measures for the return of refugees to Chechnya. Currently about 4,600 forced refugees are living in three tent camps in Ingushetia. In the republic as a whole there are about 50,000 Chechens who left Chechnya during the hostilities. About 16,500 people are living in 28 places of temporary accommodation in Chechnya. GROZNY, January 8 (Itar-Tass) - The Chechen State Council intends to find out what and who is slowing down the process of return of forced migrants to their homes in Chechnya from three refugee camps in the Republic of Ingushetia. Chechen State Council Head Khusein Isayev announced this intention at a specially convened conference of the heads of the regional and city administrations, representatives of the ministries and governing committees. The mufti of Chechnya and the cadis of the cities and regions of the republic were invited to attend the conference. "We have done much to bring the forced migrants back to their homes, but an analysis of the information about this issue produces an impression that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing," Isayev said. Thus, according to some sources, 29,500 migrants have returned from Ingushetia, while other sources insist that slightly more than 16,000 people have reentered Chechnya. "It is our duty to find those who are to blame for the slowing down of this important process and to punish them," the State Council's head said. According to him, it is possible to bring 4,600 people residing in Ingushetia's three tent camps back to Chechnya by March 1. At present, up to 2,000 migrants are willing and ready to leave the tent camps, but they cannot do so because there is nowhere for them to move as all the 28 existing temporary accommodation centers in Chechnya are filled to capacity.
http://www.chechenpress.info/news/2004/01/08/08.shtml [BBC Monitoring] |