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DATE=11/17/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA REFUGEES (S & L)
NUMBER=2-256289
BYLINE=EVE CONANT
DATELINE=NAZRAN, INGUSHETIA
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO:  The United Nations High Commissioner for 
Refugees Sadako Ogata is due to arrive in Ingushetia 
on Thursday to witness the plight of nearly 210-
thousand Chechen refugees.  Her visit coincides with 
reports from human rights workers that Russian forces 
are shelling refugees as they flee along the main road 
into Ingushetia.  Correspondent Eve Conant is in 
Nazran, Ingushetia.
TEXT:  U-N High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata 
says she wants to witness for herself the growing 
humanitarian crisis in Ingushetia.  After meeting 
officials in Moscow, Ms. Ogata said she was hoping to 
find constructive and useful solutions for the 
thousands of refugees suffering from cold, hunger, and 
disease as they fight for shelter in the already 
impoverished republic.
In Ingushetia, Ms. Ogata will visit refugee camps near 
the Chechen-Ingush border and will hold talks with the 
Ingush leadership.  She also hopes to travel inside 
Chechnya itself.
International human rights workers in Ingushetia say 
they are hearing a growing number of reports of 
Russian troops shelling refugees as they try to flee 
Chechnya.  They say refugees are being killed as they 
drive in private cars along the main highway leading 
out of the breakaway republic.
            /// REST OPT FOR LONG VERSION ///
Cassandra Cavanaugh, a researcher for the New York 
based Human Rights Watch, says her organization can 
not confirm a Russian claim that the road north out of 
the Chechen capital Grozny has been declared a safe 
corridor.
            /// CAVANAUGH ACT ///
      What we do know is that most of the refugees are 
      not going in that direction, they're going to 
      the west here to Ingushetia on to this only one 
      existing border point that's open -- Kavkaz Odin 
      at Slipsovsk.  And there's no safe way to get 
      there - people are shot at, shelled at, bombed 
      on the roads as they're coming out.  There are 
      single cars, convoys of several cars, civilian 
      vehicles.
            /// END ACT ///
Russian president Boris Yeltsin is expected to face 
heavy international criticism at the summit of the 
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 
Istanbul on Thursday.  Russia insists that its 
military campaign is an anti-terrorist operation and 
Russian military leaders have consistently denied 
reports of civilian causalities.  The testimonies from 
refugees and aid workers contradict those reports, and 
will likely serve to strengthen criticism of Russia's 
offensive as the O-S-C-E. summit begins.  (Signed)
NEB/EC/TVM-T/gm 
17-Nov-1999 16:48 PM EDT (17-Nov-1999 2148 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.