INGUSHETIA: CHECHEN REFUGEES GO ON HUNGER STRIKE DEMANDING MOSCOW MAKE PEACE WITH REBELS

Record ID: 275266

  • Title: INGUSHETIA: CHECHEN REFUGEES GO ON HUNGER STRIKE DEMANDING MOSCOW MAKE PEACE WITH REBELS
  • Date: 24th June 2001
  • Summary: SLEPTSOVSK, INGUSHETIA (JUNE 21, 2001)(REUTERS) 1. LV REFUGEE CAMP; SLV ROWS OF TENT; SLV ONE TENT WITH HUGE POSTER; SCU POSTER READS "WE ARE ON A HUNGER STRIKE. STOP GENOCIDE AND WAR IN CHECHNYA PUTIN MAKES PEACE WITH MASKHADOV" (4 SHOTS) 0.24 2. MV WOMEN AND SEVERAL CHILDREN INSIDE TENT; SCU WOMAN HOLDING A YOUNG GIRL; CLOSE UP OF GIRL (3 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 9th July 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SLEPTSOVSK, INGUSHETIA
  • Reuters ID: LVA52INKGX5NRLE1NJMH7XR77NTI
  • Story Text: Around 40 Chechen refugees have gone on a hunger strike
    in one of the refugee camps in Ingushetia, demanding Moscow
    make peace with the rebels to allow them to return home.

    More refugees, among them children, have joined the
    first 22 hunger-strikers at a refugee camp in Sleptsovsk,
    Ingushetia.

    The action "Stop the war and start talks" was launched by
    a single hunger striker a week ago but has since gathered
    pace. They say they want to call the attention of the Russian
    government and President Vladimir Putin to their plight.

    45-year-old Koka Khochkayeva from Grozny has spent two years
    in the camp. She says the third winter would be too much.

    "If they don't stop the war now and sit down for talks
    then we will have to spend our third winter here. It's hot in
    the summer and you know what's it like in the winter here.

    Every day someone dies here, we simply can't handle funerals
    any more."
    Moscow has been stung by international criticism for its
    handling of the refugee problem. It has promised to relocate
    them all to similar camps in Chechnya before the next winter.

    Refugees say they do not want to return to a land racked by
    daily violence.

    "We do not want to spend a third winter here, we want to
    go home. But to go home we need security guarantees," said
    Magomed Khizhayev, 46, one of the 40 hunger strikers in the
    town of Sleptsovsk.

    Those taking part in the protest action say the age of
    hunger-strikers range from 10 to 45. Many said they were not
    sure where their strike would lead to but said they had no
    choice.

    "They force us to do that. We have no choice. Either to
    take arms and fight or go on a hunger strike. It doesn't
    matter how we die anyway" said Raisa Abdurakhmanova, another
    hunger-striker, mother of three children.


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