Chechnya - DHA: 01.Aug-15.Sep.97
Chechnya - DHA: 01.Aug-15.Sep.97
DHAGVA 97/0353
UNITED NATIONS INTER-AGENCY HUMANITARIAN
PROGRAMME FOR PERSONS DISPLACED AS A RESULT OF THE EMERGENCY SITUATION
IN CHECHNYA, RUSSIAN FEDERATION
SITUATION REPORT OF THE DHA COORDINATOR
Based on field reports and covering the period
1 August - 15 September 1997
GENERAL
Chechnya
Early in August, authorities in Chechnya ordered measures against
persons dealing in stolen or illegally-refined oil products It was
reported that illegal oil wells and roadside refineries had become
common.
On 9 September, in Moscow, federal and Chechen negotiators agreed that
the federal government and the state pipeline company Transneft would
together pay USD 854,000 to Chechnya in 1997 for the right to pump
200,000 MTs of early oil from oilfields off the coast of Azerbaijan
through Chechnya to the Russian port of Novorossiisk on the Black Sea.
It was agreed that Transneft would pay 43 cents per ton in transit fees,
and that the federal government would pay an additional USD 1.60 per
ton. The federal government would also pay for repairs to the pipeline,
while the Chechen authorities would provide guards.
A week after this, on 12 September, Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov
stated that the federal government would, at a cost of USD 220 million,
build a 283-kilometre pipeline from Khasavyurt in Daghestan to Terskoye
in North Ossetia to connect two existing pipelines and bypass Chechnya
completely.
The relationship of this announcement to the earlier agreement was not
clear. However, according to press reports, there was considerable
disagreement within the federal government on how relations with
Chechnya should be conducted. Some senior officials felt that efforts
should be made to normalise the situation, including payments from the
federal budget; others felt that no burdens should be placed on the
federal budget until it was clear that Chechnya was ready to remain
inside the Russian Federation.
Talks between federal and Chechen negotiators continued on 13-14
September at Dagomys on the Black Sea; both sides agreed to increase
their efforts to reach a lasting settlement. This was followed by a
statement of President Yeltsin on 15 September in which he declared his
resolve to continue with the talks, despite great differences.
North Ossetia and its Prigorodny District
It was indicated in the last situation report that at the end of July,
after two vehicles had been blown up by land-mines and one North
Ossetian policeman killed, a mob of Ossetians had attacked an encampment
for Ingush returnees at the village of Tarskoye in the Prigorodny
District and destroyed it.
Further information has since been received. It was learned that when
the mob advanced on the Ingush encampment at Tarskoye, a patrol of
federal troops stationed there saved six Ingush whom the crowd wanted to
kill, and evacuated them in a military vehicle to Ingushetia. The crowd,
together with some elements of North Ossetian police, then looted and
burned some 60 container-houses, all of which had been provided by the
Federal Migration Service. The following day elements of the North
Ossetian police and other armed individuals attacked the remaining
container houses. Subsequent visits to the site showed that the whole
encampment of 84 container houses had been stricken; approximately half
had been burned to the ground, and the remaining half totally pillaged.
It should be noted that although Tarskoye is one of eight villages
"cleared" for returnee movement by the 20 April 1996 agreement between
Ingushetia and North Ossetia, UNHCR had considered it to be unsafe and
had protested to the Ingush authorities over their effort to send
returnees to that village. UNHCR is concentrating its efforts on
assisting four other villages (out of the eight) which it does consider
reasonably safe.
On 8 August President Yeltsin met in Moscow with President Aushev of
Ingushetia and President Galazov of North Ossetia. Mr. Yeltsin did not
accept President Aushev's request for direct presidential rule in the
Prigorodny District and the despatching of more federal Interior
Ministry troops, but he urged the two presidents to sign a protocol
under which all territorial disagreements between the two republics
would be frozen for 15 years, additional powers would be granted to the
president's representatives in the area and police stations jointly
manned by Ingush and North Ossetians would be set up in the areas of
greatest ethnic tension. At separate press briefings after the meeting,
both presidents stated reportedly without enthusiasm -- that they would
accept the terms of the protocol, but it appeared probable that they had
not actually signed it.
On 4 September, in the presence of Prime Minister Chernomyrdin,
presidents Aushev and Galazov signed a general treaty on normalisation
of relations and cooperation. The treaty obligates each side to prevent
the activity of illegal armed formations and the kindling of
inter-ethnic strife and to uphold previously-reached agreements.
Throughout most of August and the first half of September, tension
prevailed on the Russian-Georgian border at the crossing point on the
Vladikavkaz-Tbilisi highway as a result of a Russian decision reported
in the last situation report -- to refuse entry to tank trunks carrying
unauthorised cargoes of alcohol. At one point over 150 trucks were
lined up on the Georgian side and shooting incidents took place. In
this regard, it was reported that production of illegal vodka had become
a major industry in North Ossetia.
Daghestan
At a meeting held on 20 August, the State Council of Daghestan dismissed
Mr. Mirzabekov as head of government and appointed in his stead, on an
interim basis, Mr. Shikhshaidov who until recently was chairman of
Daghestan's audit chamber. Previously he was head of the Dagvino
company. A number of other ministers were also replaced. The chairman
of the State Council, Mr. Magomedov, remained in place.
These events are believed to be related to rising ethnic tensions. Four
incidents may be noted. On 16 July in the village of Uitash in
Karabudakhent District, a traditional Kumykh area, 2,000 heavily armed
Kumykhs arrived to evict a few Avar settlers who were constructing
houses. Shortly afterwards, a corresponding group of equally heavily
armed Avars arrived on the scene. Armed conflict was only averted by
intense efforts of mediators of other ethnic backgrounds who were rushed
to the scene. A similar incident involving Avars and Chechen-Akkins took
place in the Novolak District.
On 19 July a rally of some 8,000 Avars was held in Makhachkala in spite
of Daghestan government efforts to prevent it. However, the government
did succeed in persuading a number of influential Avars not to
participate.
At the end of August, after an attack on a girl in Khasavyurt, a Chechen
was arrested. Some hours later a crowd of armed men arrived and tried
to release him from the police station. In the ensuing shoot-out, one
Chechen was shot dead and seven wounded, while three policemen were
wounded.
As part of an effort to relieve Daghestan from the isolation imposed on
it by the situation in Chechnya, it was announced on 10 September that
construction of a new rail line, which would enable trains to run from
Moscow and other parts of Russia to Makhachkala without passing through
Chechen territory, had been completed. It was reported that the new
line runs from the Kizlyar area to Karlanyurt and joins the existing
line at Kizilyurt.
Towards the end of August, 278 cases of typhoid were reported, including
124 children. The epidemic was in the Akusha, Karabudakhkent, Levashy
and Buinaksk Districts.
Security
Early in August a Russian radio broadcast reported that a total 150
persons were being held as hostages in Chechnya, principally for
ransom. This number included four French humanitarian workers from
Equilibre kidnapped in Daghestan, one French worker from MSF-France
abducted in Ingushetia, two British aid workers seized in Grozny, five
Russian television journalists, and dozens of Russian servicemen
captured during the 1995-1996 war. Towards the end of the month the New
York Times reported that kidnapping of local people was also endemic,
and that 13 well-planned abductions had taken place only in the small
republic of Kabardino-Balkaria. Kidnapping continued apace during the
period covered by this report as did the laying of explosive devices and
other acts of violence.
Federal Ministry of the Interior troops killed four of a group of five
armed Chechens and Ingush near the village of Kartsa in the Prigorodny
District in the night of 30-31 July. Grenade launchers, machine guns
and hand grenades were recovered.
On the first day of August, a car bomb exploded outside the residence of
the Zazikova family in Nazran, Ingushetia, without causing injuries.
The incident is believed to be linked to the killing of an Ingush doctor
in March. Shortly afterwards, two bank security guards taking pension
and allowance money from the central bank of Ingushetia in Nazran to
Karabulak were killed in an armed robbery.
On 3 August two businessmen, a German and a Slovak from the Albano
company, were kidnapped at Sleptsovskaya airport in Ingushetia while on
their way to meet President Maskhadov of Chechnya to discuss provision
of medical supplies. The abductors demanded a USD 3.5 million ransom.
President Maskhadov on 13 August ordered a police sweep in Chechnya to
hunt for hostages. This led to the release of four persons who had been
guards to ex-president Zviad Gamsakhurdia of Georgia, and one local
resident of Grozny.
The same day, at a press conference in Moscow, a former hostage (the
leader of a small North Ossetian political party) declared that the
situation was totally out of control. He stated that he, two other
North Ossetian officials and their police guards had been seized by a
gang of 20 armed fighters while on their way to a meeting with Chechen
officials which proved to be a trap. The initial ransom demand was USD
5 million; during his eight months in captivity it was reduced to USD 1
million and finally his release was obtained with a payment of USD
50,000. Also on 13 August, on the outskirts of Vladikavkaz a bus
carrying workers of the Terek plant was attacked and two workers were
killed.
The following night two North Ossetian policemen were killed while on
patrol in the Pravoberezhny District.
Five Russian journalists, three from NTV and two from the ORT television
programme Vsglyad, were released on 17 August on the eve of a meeting
between President Yeltsin and President Maskhadov, seemingly as a result
the latter's efforts.
Two days later the president of NTV stated at a press conference: "I am
absolutely sure that a large-scale business has emerged in the Chechen
republic involving the kidnapping of people, and that the top leaders of
Chechnya are directly or indirectly involved in this business.
Specifically, he accused the vice-president of Chechnya, Vakha Arsanov,
of organising kidnappings; he declared that a ransom apparently in the
region of USD 1 million had been paid for the three NTV journalists,
and that ORT had also paid ransoms to release the other two. (The New
York Times reported that USD 2 million had been paid by NTV.)
The following day President Yeltsin criticised the president of NTV for
his condemnation of the Chechen leadership at a time of difficult
negotiations. Further criticisms were voiced by the secretary of the
Russian Security Council and others, but the payment of ransoms was not
denied. Subsequently, on 29 August, Agence France Presse, using
information provided by a federal official, reported that a senior
Chechen official who had played an important role in the release of the
five journalists was later shot dead. The president of Ingushetia,
Ruslan Aushev, confirmed this the same day to the newspaper Obshchaya
Gazeta, adding that the official was the deputy minister of the interior
of Chechnya who had decided how much ransom was to be paid, and to whom.
On 26 August the director of a Russian construction company, MAGAS, was
abducted from his home in Ingushetia. On the 28th, Ingush police opened
fire and arrested two kidnappers who had seized a Russian Orthodox
priest and were trying to bundle him into a car without number plates.
At about the same time, the dean of the social sciences faculty of the
University of Grozny was kidnapped.
On 3 September, in an effort to combat crime, two persons found guilty
of murder were publicly executed by firing squad in the centre of
Grozny. The crowd urged on the executioners.
On the 7th, two officials from the North Ossetian ministry of the
interior were kidnapped in the Prigorodny District. On the 11th, the
head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) office in Ingushetia and his
assistant were kidnapped. (The FSB is the main successor to the KGB.)
Kidnappings were not confined to the northern part of the Caucasus. In
Georgia, in Zugdidi on 16 September three military observers were
seized. The circumstances under which they were subsequently released
are so far unclear.
DELIVERY OF HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE
On 21 August, the inter-agency programme in Daghestan reached a
successful conclusion with the completion of the return to Chechnya in
1997 of 15,000 persons, by UNHCR. The last WFP distribution was made in
July. Persons returning to Chechnya received "returnee packages"
containing a three-months supply of food together with domestic items
and plastic sheeting. WFP transferred 195 MTs of food to UNHCR for
distribution to 17 collective centres inside Chechnya and 20 MTs of food
to the emergency situations committee (EMERCOM) of Daghestan to assist
those displaced persons who will remain permanently. Forty-two MTs of
food were sent to Stavropol Territory for distribution to the most
vulnerable among the 60,000 displaced persons from Chechnya located
there. UNHCR transferred remaining non-food items to its warehouse in
Ingushetia.
In Ingushetia UNHCR assisted 1,100 persons to return to Chechnya, while
in Kabardino-Balkaria 100 were assisted. Announcements were prepared
for the media to announce that assistance for return movements would
terminate at the end of September. Registration for the final return
movement will be conducted jointly with the migration service of the two
republics concerned. Training on income generating activities was given
in Ingushetia for monitors who work in that republic and in the
Prigorodny District of North Ossetia.
In North Ossetia, 31 persons were repatriated to the South Ossetia
region of Georgia while, on the other hand, 89 persons were returned
from Ingushetia to the Kartsa and Chermen villages in the Prigorodny
District (these are two of the four villages which UNHCR considers
reasonably safe for return).
In Chechnya rehabilitation projects continued, including installation of
a prefabricated school and ongoing work on the water system in the
Oktyabrsky district of Grozny. UNHCR signed a memorandum of
understanding with the Chechen migration service for distribution to
5,000 persons of the WFP food mentioned above. Agreements were signed
to launch two income-generating projects.
UNHCR distributed bedding and hygienic items in Ingushetia, North
Ossetia, Chechnya and the South Ossetia region of Georgia. Clothing was
distributed in Ingushetia. Tents and school furniture were distributed
in Chechnya.
The WHO prosthetic workshop, organised in collaboration with the British
prosthetic company Blatchford and the St. Petersburg Prosthetic Research
Institute, which had functioned in 1996 in Ingushetia, was relocated to
North Ossetia in 1997. In 1996 it provided artificial limbs to about
200 patients with lower-limb amputations from Ingushetia, North Ossetia
and Chechnya. It is expected that 100 patients will be assisted in
1997.
In respect of tuberculosis, WHO has scheduled a Regional Consultative
Meeting to be held in North Ossetia from 6 to 8 October. The meeting
will discuss an integrated approach to TB control in the North
Caucasus. Participants will be representatives of each of the North
Caucasus republics and territories, the federal Ministry of Health, the
Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, UN Agencies, NGOs and donors.
As of the end of August, there were 53,000 displaced persons in
Ingushetia, comprising 25,000 from Chechnya and 28,000 from the
Prigorodny District of North Ossetia. Of this latter, 11,000 come from
villages not included in the returnee plan agreed upon by Ingush and
North Ossetia authorities in April 1996.
In North Ossetia there 47,000 displaced persons and refugees, including
29,000 registered refugees from Georgia (including South Ossetia),
10,000 unregistered refugees from Georgia, 2,000 displaced persons from
Chechnya, 2,000 displaced persons from the Prigorodny District and 4,000
persons displaced from other parts of Russia and other CIS republics.
DHA ACTIVITIES, INCLUDING SECURITY
The facts of the security situation have been reported in Section I.
DHA participated in a number of inter-agency meetings at which security
was discussed. It was decided, firstly, to raise the security level to
Phase Two in the Prigorodny District of North Ossetia and in the
Makhachkala/Kaspiisk municipal area of Daghestan.
Secondly, it was decided to go to Phase Two in five districts of
Stavropol Territory which border on Chechnya.
Thirdly, it was recommended to the UN Security Coordinator to go to
Phase Three in Ingushetia and the Khasavyurt and Novolak Districts of
Daghestan. The UN Security Coordinator subsequently declared Phase
Three in these areas.
DHA participated in discussions as a result of which UNHCR decided to
support in Daghestan a small early-warning project which would function
after the UNHCR office there was closed.
With WHO, DHA discussed progress on the prosthetics project for
Ingushetia, North Ossetia and Chechnya and arrangements for a TB
seminar to be held in Vladikavkaz. With UNICEF there was a discussion
of projects which might be financed out of recently-announced
contributions.
This report is available on the internet through RELIEFWEB:
http://www.reliefweb.int
United Nations Office in the Russian Federation - Moscow
Mr. Viktor Andreev
Tel.: (7503) 232 22 27 - 232 30 11
Fax: (7503) 232 30 17
Inter-Agency Support Branch (IASB) - Geneva
Mr. David Bassiouni - Chief
Ms. Sylvia Ferazzi
Tel.: (41 22) 788.1402
Fax: (41 22) 788.6386
Registry E-Mail: Rosemary.Addo-Yirenkyi@dha.unicc.org
Complex Emergency Division (CED) - New York
Mr. David McLachlan-Karr
Tel.: (1 212) 963.0226
Fax: (1 212) 963.1388
E-Mail: mclachlan-karr@un.org
Press to contact (DHA-Geneva)
Ms. Madeleine Moulin-Acevedo
Tel.: (41 22) 917.2856
Fax: (41 22) 917.0023
Telex: 414242 DHA CH
E-Mail: Moulin-Acevedo@dha.unicc.org
distributed by
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Volunteers in Technical Assistance
Disaster Information Center lists: listproc@vita.org
sitreps nat-dsr
appeal fireline
web: www.vita.org rwanda dprk
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
comments/suggestions/requests to incident@vita.org