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DATE=4/28/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=UNHCR / CHECHNYA (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-261801
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO:  The United Nations Refugee Agency, U-N-H-
C-R, and its partners are distributing food and 
other relief supplies to tens of thousands of 
needy people in Chechnya.  Lisa Schlein in Geneva 
reports the U-N agencies brought more than 60 
tons of aid into the devastated Russian republic 
on Tuesday.
TEXT:  The United Nations Refugee Agency says 
four truckloads of relief items, including food 
and bedding, were delivered to Urus Martan 
(southwest of Grozny). 
It says some 24-thousand 500 people displaced by 
the war are living there.  U-N-H-C-R Spokesman 
Ron Redmond says the rest of the relief supplies, 
13 truckloads, is being distributed in the 
Chechen capital, Grozny.
Mr. Redmond says most of the aid is being 
distributed to public soup kitchens, bakeries, 
hospitals and other distribution points.  But he 
says some especially needy people in Grozny will 
receive direct assistance.  He says 280 extremely 
vulnerable people need to have food delivered 
directly to their homes.
            /// REDMOND ACT ///
      These are basically old and infirm people 
      as well as children, wounded and others who 
      can't make it to the soup kitchens and 
      other distribution points that have been 
      set up in the city.  Many of these people 
      continue to live in extremely horrific 
      conditions, often cold and dark cellars 
      because their homes have been damaged or 
      destroyed. 
            /// END ACT ///
Mr. Redmond says it appears that continuing 
assistance will be needed for a long time to 
come.  An estimated 20-thousand civilians remain 
in Grozny, which was flattened under relentless 
Russian bombardment.
The U-N-H-C-R spokesman says his agency and its 
partners are now looking at the possibility of 
sending another convoy to Chechnya from its base 
of operations in Stavropol, southern Russia.  He 
says no details are yet available.  But, as in 
the past, Mr. Redmond says the decision to send 
more aid will depend on the security situation in 
Chechnya. 
Since mid-September, the U-N-H-C-R has sent 61 
convoys to the North Caucuses.  Fifty of them 
have gone to Ingushetia where more than 200-
thousand Chechen refugees fled to escape the war.
(Signed)
NEB/LS/GE/KL 
28-Apr-2000 09:46 AM EDT (28-Apr-2000 1346 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.