Chechnya - DHA: 01.Nov-15.Dec.97
Chechnya - DHA: 01.Nov-15.Dec.97
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 November - 15 December 1997
GENERAL
Russian authorities announced on 13 November that a security cordon
manned by 1,500 troops will be set up along a part of the Chechnya
border. Interior Minister Anatoly Kulikov and officials of Stavropol
Territory decided to set up a three-kilometer-wide buffer zone along the
114-kilometer border between Stavropol Territory and Chechnya. The
decision was announced after the authorities in Daghestan announced a
nighttime curfew on their own border. Cossack self-defense brigades were
also created, but as Kulikov noted, they would operate exclusively in
conjunction with official police forces.
Federal Vice Prime Minister Mr. Ramazan Abdulatipov criticised on 13
November the policy of total blockade of Chechnya and suggested that a
different approach should be chosen. He was supported in this by the
Minister for Nationalities, Mr. Mikhailov.
President of Chechnya Aslan Maskhadov departed for the United States on
a five-day private unofficial visit on 11 October 1997. Russian press
quoted Maskhadov as emphasising President Yeltsin's decisive
contribution to the resolution of the conflict in Chechnya in spite of
the fact that some officials of the Russian Government were against
signing any peace agreement with the republic.
Maskhadov's trip to US was preceded by a visit to Turkey, where he
announced that his country "from now on will be the Islamic Republic of
Chechnya. He also said that a new system of administration will be
introduced in the Republic. He flew to Turkey directly from the Grozny
airport, where he had been kept for six hours by border officials who
insisted on the touch down at an international airport in Russia to
undergo a customs check. The stalemate was broken when Prime Minister
Chernomyrdin persuaded Russian border officials to allow Maskhadov to
fly directly to Istanbul.
While Maskhadov was abroad, a gathering of former commanders in Grozny
called the Freedom Warrior Union on 16 November 1997 passed a
resolution declaring no confidence in President Aslan Maskhadov' home
and foreign policy. Participants, who included Salman Raduev and Ruslan
Gelaev (vice chairman of the government), demanded the resignation of
the Chechen Government and the dissolution of the state commission on
talks with Russia because of their "long deception of people" and
"leading the negotiating process to a deadlock.
The opening ceremony of the pipeline Baku - Novorossiysk took place in
the capital of Azerbaijan on 12 November 1997. 153 km out of the 1400 km
long pipe line passes through Chechnya where it is guarded by 400
soldiers.
On 29 November it was announced that President Yeltsin was planning to
visit Chechnya in January 1998. The question of giving Chechnya the
status of a self-governing republic on the territory of the Russian
Federation was supposed to be discussed during the visit. It was also
planned to check Grozny's complaints that the resources intended for
restoration of the destroyed Chechen economy had been embezzled.
Chechnya demanded that Yeltsin's trip be regarded as a foreign visit. On
30 November Kazbek Khadzhiev, spokesman for Chechen President Aslan
Maskhadov, was quoted by Interfax as saying "Chechnya would not allow
Yeltsin to make the trip unless it was carried out in line with protocol
customary for international visits." Yeltsin's spokesman Sergey
Yastrezhimsky told Russian news agencies that "Yeltsin's visit to
Chechnya was being considered as a trip to Russian region and cannot be
treated as an inter-state visit because Chechnya was, is and will be a
part of Russia.
On 13 December Chechen officials announced a plan to ban traditional New
Year's celebrations. It was announced that Maskhadov would soon sign a
decree canceling all New Year events in public institutions. From now on
Chechnya would mark New Year in accordance with the Moslem calendar,
although people would be allowed to celebrate the holiday in private.
On 15 December Emergency Situations Minister Mr. Sergei Shoigu met with
Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov to discuss the safe handling of
radioactive waste in Chechnya. Russian and Chechen officials refused to
give any details of the talks but the same day it was reported on TV
that a radioactive waste storage site located 15 km from Grozny was
damaged in the 1994-96 war and was not being properly guarded.
Also on 15 December it was reported on TV that the Deputy Minister of
the Interior of Chechnya started a campaign targeted at criminals who
had been stealing oil and oil products and making profit of some USD 6
million per month.
SECURITY
The base of a Chechen anti-kidnapping brigade was attacked on 1 November
in Grozny and four suspects were freed. The attack was discussed at a
special meeting chaired by Chechen Security Council Chairman Doku
Umatov. Commenting on the event Khunkarpasha Israpilov, head of the
Republican Antiterrorist Centre, blamed the success of the attack on the
base's own personnel who did not offer sufficient resistance.
On 2 November 1997 four cars approached a coach on a main road not far
from Kizlyar (close to the Chechen border). The coach carrying 14 people
back to Daghestan from a shopping tour in Moscow was stopped and the
people in the coach were robbed by 15 armed bandits of both Chechen and
Daghestani background. It was reported on TV that one girl in the coach
was raped.
On 3 November 1997 seven armed persons in masks burst into a house in
the village of Sovetskoye in Khasavyurt region of Daghestan, seized
three people in the house and drove them into Chechnya. It was reported
that the police checkpoint did not react, though they were aware of the
incident. As it was later learned, Salman Raduev's group of fighters had
seized three Avars who had been procrastinating with payment to the
Chechen side for a batch of non-ferrous metals, which they had taken
from Chechens for sale. Supporters of the three abducted Avars blocked
the road near Girzel bridge. The bridge was unblocked after the abducted
men released.
Three police officers and two civilians were killed in a shooting on 4
November in Ingushetia, a region bordering Chechnya, when police stopped
a car with Chechen number plates for a check. The people in the car
opened fire and having killed the five people drove away.
In a separate incident on 4 November a Swiss citisen employed by the
Seibert-Stinnes AG construction company was kidnapped from a building
site in Nazran. Interfax said unidentified assailants broke through the
fence surrounding the settlement of construction workers who were
building an airport in Ingushetia. Russian officials believe he was
taken to Chechnya.
On 5 November 1997 Interfax reported that Russian Interior Minister
Anatoly Kulikov urged foreigners not to travel to Chechnya or nearby
regions. Kulikov also said that there was a draft presidential decree
that would limit private individuals' entry into Chechnya.
On 13 November 1997 all international humanitarian organisations in
North Ossetia were invited by the local Interior Ministry to participate
in a meeting. Participants were told that according to the instruction
from the Federal Interior Ministry there would be restrictions on trips
to Chechnya and international staff registered in North Ossetia would
not be allowed to cross the border to Chechnya. It was pointed out that
a new local Decree on the above restrictions would soon be distributed.
(See more information on this issue under "DHA activities").
On 18 November it was confirmed by Ingush authorities that the
instruction had been received from Federal authorities prohibiting
international staff members to enter Chechen territory via Ingushetia,
for security reasons. (See more information on this issue under "DHA
activities").
On 9 November not far from Khasavyurt a police vehicle with four
militiamen inside was attacked by eight armed bandits; one militia man
was killed, one wounded, the other two were driven to Chechnya.
The same day Chechen antiterrorist forces seized a group of five armed
men in Gudermes area close to the Daghestani border as they tried to
kidnap a local resident. Deputy Prime Minister Movladi Udugov was quoted
by Interfax as saying that "the group was suspected of kidnapping people
for ransom in Chechnya and of transferring the captives to Daghestan and
could be linked to Daghestan's security chief Magomed Tolboev. Tolboev
denied the accusation.
After the incidents of 9 November, Daghestani authorities approved the
creation of self-defense brigades of volunteers from the villages of
Sovetskoye, Pervomayskoye, Terechnoye and Aksay and promised that police
checkpoints would be increased.
On 17 November four French aid workers, kidnapped on 3 August 1997 in
Makhachkala and held hostage in Chechnya, were released after more than
three months of captivity and handed over to Daghestani intermediaries
at the border of Daghestan and Chechnya. They flew home to France on 19
November amid controversy over whether a ransom was paid or not.
On 18 November, a lieutenant of the Russian border guards was shot and
killed from a speeding car in Nazran, Ingushetia.
On 19 November Deputy Prosecutor of Chechnya Magomed Magomadov said
that 137 hostages had been freed but 54 were still being held, including
two Hungarians, two Britons and a Turk. Chechen security forces had
arrested some 60 suspects.
On 24 November governor of Stavropol Mr. Chernogorov announced on
Russian TV that they claim the status of state border region for
Galigalsky region of Stavropol territory.
Nine militiamen were seized and brought to Chechnya from Daghestan on 26
November and returned on 29 November after two days negotiations of
between the sides.
On 14 December Momadi Magomadov, Chief Investigator of the Chechen
Antiterrorist Centre, reported that he had information that two British
aid workers Mr. Jon James and Ms. Camilla Carr seized last summer were
alive and well but the search for them was complicated because they were
moved frequently.
DHA ACTIVITIES
On 6 November 1997 the DHA Senior Humanitarian Officer in Moscow briefed
an inter-agency meeting in New York on the successful completion of the
return movement of the displaced persons into Chechnya and the expected
phase out of DHA activities in the Russian Federation at the end of
December.
In the briefing it was indicated that residual needs from the
inter-agency programme would be handled separately in 1998 by UNHCR,
UNICEF and WHO, each in its own sector. WFP had completed its food
distribution in the North Caucasus and was not expected to undertake
activities in the Russian Federation in 1998.
UNHCR would continue to assist some 60,000 persons displaced by the
conflict between Ingush and Ossetians in Prigorodny District of North
Ossetia and refugees from Georgia for whom a return movement had
commenced, particularly to South Ossetia. These activities would be
included in the Appeal which UNHCR was about to launch within the
framework of the programme called for by the CIS conference. The UNHCR
Appeal would be sent to donors simultaneously with the IOM Appeal under
cover of a letter prepared jointly by the two organisations.
UNICEF had recently opened an office in the Russian Federation and would
continue to provide assistance to the North Caucasus. The donors
contribution earmarked for this purpose had recently been received. WHO
was expected to continue to operate a centre to provide prosthetic
devices to amputees and pursue a campaign against tuberculosis.
It was noted that the Russian Federation Government had been informed of
DHA plans to phase out the Emergency Programme.
On 26 November 1997 the DHA Coordinator met with the Head of the
International Security Department of the Security Council of the Russian
Federation. The meeting was organised to discuss the situation which had
arisen as a result of the announcement by the Federal Ministry of the
Interior, and corresponding statements by the Ministries of the Interior
of Ingushetia and North Ossetia, to the effect that crossings of the
border from Ingushetia and North Ossetia into Chechnya by international
staff were prohibited as a result of the security situation in Chechnya.
It was indicated by the Security Council official that the announcement
was not a mandatory instruction and the Security Council had no
objection to the continued travel of United Nation staff to Chechnya.
Also, on 26 November 1997 the DHA Coordinator and DHA Senior Officer met
at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with Ambassador B.L. Kolokolov and
discussed the issue of travel to Chechnya, customs and value added tax
problems, recognition of laissez-passer and the future of UN
humanitarian programmes in the Russian Federation.
On 2 and 3 December 1997 the DHA Officer in Moscow participated in a
demonstration on Rescue and Mine Clearance organised by Ministry of
Emergency Situations in Noghinsk.
On 4 December 1997 the UN Resident Coordinator/DHA Coordinator conducted
an inter-agency meeting in Moscow where the agencies exchanged
information on the current activities in various regions of the Russian
Federation and shared their plans for the future.
On 8 and 9 December 1997 the DHA officer participated in a conference
organised jointly by UNESCO and Russian Ministry for Nationalities on
the topic "From the stereotypes of war to the ideals of peace and
education." The conference, which was held within the framework of the
UNESCO project "Towards a culture of peace," created a number of
working groups. DHA participated in the work group on the reduction of
ethnic tensions.
On 9 December 1997 DHA participated in a working lunch hosted by the
European Union in Moscow with the purpose of reviewing plans of
humanitarian NGOs in North Caucasus in 1998.
On 11 December 1997 DHA met with the representative of Sakhalin Region
Ministry of Health in order to review progress on setting up the
equipment for the Children's Rehabilitation Centre in Yuzhnosakhalinsk.
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. Katarina Toll Velasquez
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
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