90,000 Refugees in Ingushetia

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Date: Sun, 3 Oct 1999 11:05:28 +0300 (EET DST)
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Subject: 90,000 Refugees in Ingushetia

From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

Original sender: Chris Hunter <[email protected]>

90,000 Refugees in Ingushetia


90,000 Refugees from Chechnya Reported in Ingushetia
 
01/10/99 Chris Hunter, Moscow, Centre for Peacemaking and Community
Development 
[email protected]
 
There are now around 90,000 refugees from Chechnya in Ingushetia,
according to the Ingush authorities. Around 15% of these are of Ingush
nationality; a small minority Russians and people of other
nationalities. The majority of refugees are Chechens. Between 6000 and
10,000 people are streaming across the border every day, mainly women,
children and old people. Precise figures are impossible to obtain, as
the Ingush Emergencies Ministry and Migration Service only began
registering refugees on Tuesday and is overwhelmed by the influx of
refugees. 30 September, Russian NTV television news showed interviews
with refugees who were having to sleep on the streets or in Nazran's
railway station.
 
With Russian ground forces reported to have entered the Nozhai Yurt
and Sholkovskoi regions of Chechnya, and the bombing continuing every
day, Ingushetia is the only place for people to flee to, as all other
Republics have closed their borders. Armed conflict has begun in the
above Northern regions of Chechnya, according to official sources in
Grozny. A Russian tank division is located in the Sholkovskoi region.
 
A relatively small number of refugees, around 2000 people, have
managed to flee across Chechnya's eastern border into Dagestan.
 
In Ingushetia the main concentrations of refugees are in the towns of
Nazran, Malgobek, Karabulak, Sleptsovsk and Maiskii. Around one third
of the refugees are staying with relatives, renting flats, or are
living in hotels and hostels. The others are residing in temporary
camps in the Malgobek, Nazran and Sunzhenskii regions or have not yet
been appointed accommodation.
 
The government of Ingushetia, particularly the Emergencies Ministry,
is doing everything possible to help refugees, but the Republic does
not have the capacities to assist all of the people who have arrived.
The number of refugees is already almost one half of the Republic's
original population.
 
The Russian leadership has stated several times in the last few days
that international humanitarian aid is not needed in the North
Caucasus. Such assistance has been offered by the United Nations High
Commission for Refugees and several other organizations. Humanitarian
aid must be given to the many hundreds of thousands of victims of
armed conflict in the North Caucasus, particularly in Chechnya,
Ingushetia and Dagestan. Russia is unable, or unwilling, to cope with
the humanitarian catastrophe there on its own.
 
Refugees are primarily in need of food, medications, sanitary
products, clothing, sleeping bags, tents, blankets and mattresses. The
office of the Centre for Peacemaking and Community Development (CPCD)
in Nazran, Ingushetia, is beginning work to bring such assistance to
refugees. CPCD assistance programmes in Chechnya continue to operate.

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