RUSSIA: TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CHECHEN REFUGEES FACE AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE WITH AUTHORITIES PUSHING TO CLOSE DOWN TENT CAMPS
Record ID:
275189
RUSSIA: TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CHECHEN REFUGEES FACE AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE WITH AUTHORITIES PUSHING TO CLOSE DOWN TENT CAMPS
- Title: RUSSIA: TENS OF THOUSANDS OF CHECHEN REFUGEES FACE AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE WITH AUTHORITIES PUSHING TO CLOSE DOWN TENT CAMPS
- Date: 5th December 2002
- Summary: (W5) KARABULAK, INGUSHETIA, RUSSIA (DECEMBER 3, 2002) (REUTERS) 1. SLV MAN CUTTING WOOD IN FRONT OF TENTS; MV WOMEN FILLING CANISTERS WITH WATER; MV CHECHEN BOY WALKING THROUGH ROW OF TENTS (3 SHOTS) 0.21 2. MV WOMEN SELLING CAKES BAKED FOR RAMADAN AT A SMALL MARKET INSIDE THE CAMP; SLV MARKET (2 SHOTS) 0.29 3. MV CHECHEN REFUGEE WOMAN INSI
- Embargoed: 20th December 2002 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: KARABULAK AND NAZRAN, INGUSHETIA, RUSSIA
- Country: Russia
- Reuters ID: LVABNZN52ZOPTZXU4N4CKV8PCS2B
- Story Text: Tens of thousands of Chechen refugees in the Southern
Russian republic of Ingushetia are facing an uncertain future
with the Russian authorities pushing hard for closing down
tent camps and moving refugees back to Chechnya.
Meanwhile, the United Nations refugee agency has said it
is trying to track down hundreds of Chechens turned out in
freezing weather when Russian forces closed a refugee camp at
the weekend.
Russia ignored pleas from the U.N. High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNHCR) and closed the Aki-Yurt tent camp in
Ingushetia, across the border from Chechnya where Russian
forces are battling separatist rebels. The camp housed about
1,500 people.
No media access was given to the camp at the weekend,
despite journalists' attempts to reach the area.
Ruslan Badalov, the head of a local human rights group in
Ingushetia, said Ingush police, special forces and Chechnya's
pro-Moscow government had threatened the reluctant residents
of Aki-Yurt, the most isolated of the Ingush camps, despite
official promises that any return would be voluntary.
"I feel sorry for the people which will be thrown out in
the winter, when, as the Russian old saying goes, a good
person will not let his dog go outside. And nobody cares what
their future is, what will happen to them. The political task
- to get rid of the tent camps by any means was put forward -
and they are trying to fulfil at any cost," said Badalov.
Russia wants all the 70,000 Chechen refugees in Ingushetia
to return home and has stepped up efforts to vacate tent camps
in the region after Chechen guerrillas seized a packed Moscow
theatre in October.
Government officials have for months said that they wanted
to send home some 70,000 Chechen refugees who have been living
in the Ingushetia region since 1999, when the Kremlin sent
troops into neighbouring Chechnya to crush a separatist
revolt.
Russia has said it will not force displaced Chechens to
return against their will. It says Chechnya is safe for them
to return and that adequate housing has been built; but many
refugees say they are afraid to go home.
"I want to live in my native city, I want to work in my
republic and I want to live finally without fear, violence and
death. But because there [in Chechnya] federal soldiers are on
the rampage I am afraid to go back there," said Tamara
Isakova, mother of ten children and a refugee from Grozny.
"Until now I had hoped for the better, now I have
realised there is nothing to hope for. We hoped that the war
will be over, that there will be peace, now I have no hopes
left and will have to be satisfied with what is around," said
28-year-old Maryam.
Russian troops are positioned near four tent camps in
Ingushetia's Sleptsovskaya area, causing "high anxiety" among
the refugees, UNHCR has said. It estimates that 20,000
refugees live in six camps in Ingushetia and the rest live
with families.
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