DATE=12/7/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CHECHNYA / HUMAN RIGHTS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-256922
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United Nations Refugee Agency, U-N-H-
C-R, is expressing alarm about the fate of tens
of thousands of civilians trapped in the Chechen
capital, Grozny, just days before a threatened
military strike by Russia. Lisa Schlein in
Geneva reports the U-N agency's fears are echoed
by a group of Chechen officials and human rights
activists in exile who have come to Geneva to
appeal for international help.
TEXT: The United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, Sadako Ogata, expressed her concerns
about the civilian population in Grozny to
Russia's Emergencies Minister, Sergei Shoigu, on
Monday. Ms. Ogata's spokesman, Kris Janowski,
says the High Commissioner told the Russian
minister that the fate of Chechnya's civilians
was her top concern.
/// JANOWSKI ACT ///
We know there have been tens of thousands
of terrified people basically roughing it
in Grozny, hiding in cellars probably
without electricity. Nobody's really had
any information about what is happening to
these people or the situation inside
Grozny. We don't see how these people can
safely get out of Grozny and how, under the
current circumstances, this can all happen
with continued bombardment and so on and so
forth.
/// END ACT ///
Russia puts the number of people remaining in
Grozny at 15-thousand. However, a group of
Chechen exiles who are here in Geneva confirm
other reports which estimate the civilian
population at 50-thousand. On Monday, the
Russian military dropped leaflets in Grozny
warning the people to leave the city before
Saturday or risk being killed in a massive air
and artillery attack.
Vagap Tutakov is a Chechen parliamentarian who
escaped from Grozny in October. He says Chechen
exiles have set up an information center in the
neighboring Republic of Georgia, from where it
receives daily reports from Grozny. Speaking
through an interpreter, Mr. Tutakov says there is
no way people in Grozny can know about the
Russian ultimatum to leave the city.
/// TUTAKOV ACT ///
How can they find out about this if they
live in a town in which there is no light,
no electricity, no contacts with the
outside world? And, they're all living,
the 50-thousand, let's say who are still
there, they're all living beneath ground
level. They're living in cellars. So,
much time would be needed to tell everybody
to go from one cellar to the next to tell
people about this ultimatum and for them to
tell them to take the measures, the
necessary measures.
/// END ACT ///
/// OPT /// The Chechen parliamentarians say they
have information that Russian troops attacked two
districts in Grozny with chemical weapons last
week. However, this report cannot be
independently verified. They say they are afraid
Russian troops might destroy a nuclear waste
storage facility just outside Grozny if the
military is forced to leave. This, they say,
would have serious consequences for people from
the Caspian to the Black Sea. /// END OPT ///
The Chechens are appealing to the international
community to get involved in ending the war.
They are urging the United Nations and
Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe to broker a peace deal between Russia and
Chechnya. (Signed)
NEB/LS/GE/KL
07-Dec-1999 09:50 AM EDT (07-Dec-1999 1450 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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