DATE=1/14/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=UNHCR / CHECHNYA UPDATE (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-258073
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The United Nations Refugee Agency, U-N-H-
C-R, reports a sharp drop in the number of
refugees returning to Russian-controlled areas in
Chechnya from the neighboring Republic of
Ingushetia. Lisa Schlein in Geneva has more.
TEXT: The U-N Refugee Agency reports 300
refugees returned from Ingushetia to Chechnya on
Thursday. This is a significant drop from
previous days when daily returns reached more
than one-thousand-500.
U-N-H-C-R spokesman, Ron Redmond attributes the
decline to the resumption of fighting and
artillery bombardment around Gudermes and Shali.
He says both of these Chechen towns had
previously been regarded as relatively quiet and
safe.
Mr. Redmond says another reason for the decline
is that Chechen men considered to be of fighting
age had not been allowed to cross the border for
several days.
The U-N Refugee Agency is continuing to provide
humanitarian assistance to the tens of thousands
of Chechens in Ingushetia. More than 180-
thousand Chechens remain there. Most of them are
living with host families. But some 25-thousand
are staying in camps and another 28-thousand in
makeshift spontaneous settlements.
Mr. Redmond says the U-N agency sends weekly
convoys of food and other relief supplies to
Ingushetia. In addition, he says this week the
agency sent an 11-truck relief convoy to the
Russian Republic of Dagestan. He says Dagestan
is hosting about seven-thousand people displaced
from Chechnya during the current round of
fighting. This is in addition to some six-
thousand people who were displaced during a
Chechen rebel incursion into Dagestan last
August. (Signed)
NEB/LS/GE/KL
14-Jan-2000 10:31 AM EDT (14-Jan-2000 1531 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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