DATE=4/25/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-N / CHECHNYA (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261691
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: U-N aid agencies have sent another convoy of
relief supplies to Chechnya. Lisa Schlein in Geneva
reports this is the second such delivery to the
devastated Russian republic since March.
TEXT: A spokesman for the U-N Refugee Agency, Ron
Redmond, says the 17-truck convoy spent Monday night
in North Ossetia. He says the convoy's final
destination in Chechnya was to be decided with Russian
officials. He says the decision also would be based
on recommendations from a U-N assessment mission to
Chechnya.
Mr. Redmond says the U-N has not sent a relief convoy
into Chechnya since March because of the unstable
security situation in the republic. He says he hopes
the situation will have calmed down sufficiently so
that the U-N will be able to send relief supplies on a
regular basis.
// OPT // The United Nations convoy is carrying food,
soap, kitchen sets, and plastic sheets. The shipment
cost 157-thousand-dollars. // END OPT //
Mr. Redmond says there are an estimated 200-thousand
Chechen refugees in the neighboring Republic of
Ingushetia. He says many of the people say they want
to return home, but they need help to get started.
/// REDMOND ACT ///
According to U-N-H-C-R monitors who are working
on the border between Chechnya and Ingushetia,
many of the people coming across report a food
shortage. For example, travelers report there
is only maize in a couple of towns, Nojai-Urt
and Vedeno. Residents of Grozny say that
elderly and sick people in that devastated city
are unable, many of them, to even get to the
soup kitchens that have been set up because they
are simply too infirm to move.
/// END ACT ///
Despite the hardships and destruction, Mr. Redmond
says an average of 250 to 300-people are returning to
Chechnya every day from Ingushetia. He says Russian
authorities have announced that landmines have been
cleared from the capital, Grozny. As a result, he
says he expects the number of people returning to the
devastated city to increase.
Mr. Redmond says families going back to Chechnya often
return without adult males. He says the Chechens are
afraid that the Russians are detaining young men. He
says another problem is many of the young men lack
identification and other documents, which were lost in
the fighting and during their flight. (SIGNED)
NEB/LS/GE/ENE/RAE
25-Apr-2000 11:08 AM EDT (25-Apr-2000 1508 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
