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DATE=1/25/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-N-H-C-R / CHECHEN REFUGEES (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-258408
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO:  The United Nations says thousands of people 
are fleeing intensified fighting and aerial 
bombardments by the Russian military in Chechnya.  
Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports the U-N refugee agency 
estimates up to nine-thousand Chechen refugees have 
fled to neighboring Ingushetia during the past four-
days.
TEXT:  The U-N refugee agency says up to 25-hundred 
Chechens a day are fleeing. 
U-N-H-C-R spokesman Kris Janowski says very few of the 
refugees leaving are from the Chechen capital, Grozny.  
He says the agency has no contact there, but media 
accounts indicate the situation must be one of 
pandemonium for thousands of civilians who are trapped 
by the fighting.
At the same time people are leaving Chechnya, Mr. 
Janowski says refugees in Ingushetia are returning to 
Russian-controlled areas in northern Chechnya.  He 
says daily returns average about one-thousand people.
            /// JANOWSKI ACT ONE ///
      Over the past five-days or so, there are twice 
      as many people leaving Chechnya as going back 
      because of the intense fighting.  Previously, we 
      had a situation, for a while, where there were 
      more people going back than coming out.  So, it 
      sort of varies.  But, now we've got those 
      getting out outnumbering those going back.
            /// END ACT ///
According to Russian estimates, about 90-thousand 
refugees have returned to safe areas in Chechnya.  
About 180-thousand refugees remain in Ingushetia -- 
many living in makeshift camps in squalid, overcrowded 
conditions.  
Mr. Janowski says there is growing concern about the 
health of these people.
            /// JANOWSKI ACT TWO ///
      There are cases of tuberculosis.  There are 
      cases of other diseases.  But, tuberculosis is 
      one of the main worries there on the ground.  We 
      are actually looking into an option of setting 
      up some accommodation for people who have 
      tuberculosis so that it does not spread to 
      others. 
            /// END ACT ///
Mr. Janowski says people also are suffering from the 
flu and gastric problems because of unclean water.  
Several private medical groups, such as Doctors 
Without Borders, are working in Ingushetia.  The World 
Health Organization says one of its communicable 
disease experts is on the way to the area.   (SIGNED)
NEB/LS/JWH/RAE
25-Jan-2000 07:57 AM EDT (25-Jan-2000 1257 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.