DATE=10/9/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CHECHNYA CASUALTIES (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-254844
BYLINE=PETER HEINLEIN
DATELINE=ELISTANZHI, RUSSIA
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Russian foreign minister Igor Ivanov has
admitted that the current military campaign in
Chechnya is causing heavy civilian casualties. V-O-A
correspondent Peter Heinlein visited a Chechen village
where funeral services were being held for 34 victims
of a Russian air strike.
TEXT: /// act wailing of women ///
The people of Elistanzhi buried their dead Saturday,
cursing the jets that streaked over the village two
days earlier, raining bombs and machinegun fire over
hundreds of buildings. The village school was heavily
damaged. Fortunately, the principal had declared a
holiday, or casualties might have been far higher. As
it was, many of the dead were children.
Russian military spokesmen say they are targetting
Chechen rebel bases, supply depots and ammunition
dumps. But at least twice this past week, the victims
have been civilians. Chechen officials say more than
400 non-combatants have died since Russian tanks and
aircraft began striking inside Chechnya in late
August.
Many here fear a repeat of the Chechen war of 1994 to
1996. That conflict left an estimated 80-thousand
people dead, most of them civilians.
The most recent air raids, along with a two-pronged
incursion by Russian ground forces, have triggered a
mass exodus of frightened Chechens. The line of cars
stretches more than a kilometer back from the border
of neighboring Ingushetia, where well over 130-
thousand refugees are already camped, many of them
under open sky.
But the people of Elistanzhi say those leaving are
those who have enough money to flee. They are simple
villagers, with cows and chickens to take care of and
crops to harvest, and the only road to neighboring
Dagestan 20 kilometers away has been blocked by
Russian troops. The villagers say they have little
choice but to stay.
Sixty nine-year-old Parja Chumakova stands in a
blackened field, tears streaming down her weather-
beaten face. She says her p-r-e-g-n-a-n-t daughter-
in-law was among the victims of the bombing.
/// Chumakova act in Ingush ///
She says, "We are not fighting, just sowing potatos
and bringing in the crops, then bombs fall on us like
apples."
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has repeatedly
said this Chechen campaign is aimed at wiping out
bandits, blamed for a series of apartment building
bombings that killed nearly 300 people. But forty-
eight year old Leyla Kaimova, whose eleven-year-old
daughter was gravely wounded in the air strike on
Elistanzhi, says the bandits are going free and common
people suffer.
/// Kaimova act in Ingush ///
she says, "Tell Mr. Putin he is fighting against
little girls and women, not fighters." She then adds,
"We're not bandits; They are." She looked down at the
chickens rummaging through the blackened earth and
said, "Look, chickens all around. Those are the only
fighters we have." (SIGNED)
NEB/PH/JP
09-Oct-1999 19:32 PM EDT (09-Oct-1999 2332 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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