DATE=11/23/1999
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=RUSSIA / REFUGEES
NUMBER=5-44094
BYLINE=EVE CONANT
DATELINE=CHECHEN-INGUSH BORDER
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Russia's migration office says 215-thousand
people have fled fighting in Chechnya by crossing into
neighboring Ingushetia. Correspondent Eve Conant
visited near the Chechen-Ingush border, where she
reports about 20-thousand of the refugees are living
in camps, and the rest are in private homes, train
cars, farms, or wherever they can find shelter.
TEXT:
/// SOUNDS OF HAMMERING - FADE UNDER ///
A Chechen man pulls a rusty nail out a chunk of rotten
wood. He then pounds the nail until it is straight
again, and continues his task of trying to build a new
door for a crumbling structure that used to hold feed
for pigs. He is one of more than 150-people who have
found a home, for now, in a pig farm five-kilometers
from the Chechen border.
In a barn next to him live four families. Fifteen
people share one room; their laundry drapes the back
wall. Blankets and colorful rugs are spread out on
the floor. Children run around and giggle, while a
petite 14-year-old washes dishes in a bucket.
/// SOUNDS OF WATER / DISHES - FADE UNDER ///
Hava Sultanova says each day is the same for her.
/// SULTANOVA ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER ///
She looks at the floor shyly and says -- I clean up, I
cook, I look after the children.
She quietly goes about her work. But another woman in
the room, Zulai Majzidova, is more outspoken. She
points to a pile of potatoes and says that is all the
food they have, that everyone is sick and coughing.
She says the Russians are happy that Chechens are
suffering.
/// MAJZIDOVA ACT - IN RUSSIAN - FADE UNDER ///
She says Russians do not consider Chechens as humans.
She says, for them, a Chechen is not a person, but a
pig. They treat us like beasts."
Several kilometers away are the refugee camps and the
trains. One section of train cars stretches three-
kilometers. A few tents have been set up near the
train, where a refugee woman has started a school.
/// KIDS READING RUSSIAN FOLKTALE - FADE UNDER ///
Thirty-five Chechen children recite a famous Russian
folktale about an entire family trying to pull one
beet out of the ground. Teacher Birlant
Khadjimuradova says she will teach Russian despite the
war.
She has not received a salary in three-years, nor does
she get anything for teaching her sons and the other
children of the trains. She also says the distant
sound of falling bombs upsets the kids as they study.
/// KHADJIMURADOVA ACT ONE ///
You saw how they close their ears during the
lesson when they hear it. All the children need
psychological rehabilitation.\
/// END ACT ///
The tented classroom is cold and dark and the kids sit
three to a desk. Teacher Khadjimuradova says there is
not enough to eat and that disease is spreading -
mostly due to the cold, damp weather. She says the
question on everyone's mind is just how long Russia
plans to continue bombing Chechnya.
/// KHADJIMURADOVA ACT TWO ///
Do you think this is an anti-terrorist campaign?
I do not think so, because if they wanted to,
they could occupy terrorist bases. But instead
there are bombs, killing people, children and
women. You must understand how many people,
thousands of people, are being killed.
/// END ACT ///
A group of mothers huddle together at the entrance of
the tent as the children study. They do not complain,
but they beg for warm clothing for their children.
When class ends they bundle up their sons and
daughters and go back to the train cars, numbered from
one to 65.
When asked how long she thinks she will be here,
teacher Khadjimuradova echoes other refugees. She
says -- some say two weeks, some say two months, I do
not know, no one does. (SIGNED)
NEB/EC/JWH/RAE
23-Nov-1999 08:59 AM EDT (23-Nov-1999 1359 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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