DATE=9/7/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=U-N / CHECHNYA (L-O)
NUMBER=2-266229
BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN
DATELINE=GENEVA
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The U-N refugee agency says tens-of-thousands
of Chechen refugees are due to spend a second harsh
winter in the neighboring Russian republic of
Ingushetia. Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports the agency
says resentment against the Chechens is growing among
the local Ingush people.
TEXT: The U-N refugee agency says the situation in
war-torn Chechnya remains unstable. It says the more
than 170-thousand Chechen refugees who fled to
Ingushetia are reluctant to go home, and are likely to
remain in Ingushetia for the foreseeable future.
U-N-H-C-R spokesman Kris Janowski says there are
growing signs that the refugees are over-staying their
welcome and are under pressure to go.
/// 1ST JANOWSKI ACT ///
We have had a few dozen cases of people who have
actually been evicted either from private homes
by their host families. Or people who have been
evicted from various premises that they have
illegally occupied - some old factories or
abandoned offices or halls - and these people
are being now are being pushed out. Some of
them have already been evicted. Some are under
the threat of eviction.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Janowski says the U-N-H-C-R is trying to mediate
with the host families to keep the refugees. He says
the agency is offering them incentives, such as food
and other aid. He says resentment against refugees
from local communities is a worldwide phenomenon, and
evictions have occurred in many places.
But the spokesman says this is the first time refugees
have been evicted by their hosts in Ingushetia. He
says he hopes the incentives being offered to Ingush
families will put a stop to this.
/// 2ND JANOWSKI ACT ///
Often people who host refugees are refugees
themselves, and they have to even put up with
even more hardships when they host refugees, and
that is why we have to help them. In the case
of the displaced people from Chechnya, we're
facing a similar problem. It's not a large-
scale problem so far. Nonetheless, it's there,
and one has to deal with it.
/// END ACT ///
About half of the Chechen refugees are living in tents
and makeshift accommodations. The rest are staying
with private host families.
Mr. Janowski says the U-N refugee agency is in the
process of building a tent city, for 12-thousand
people who will have to spend the winter in tents. He
says winter in the north Caucasus is very harsh, and
the agency is trying to ease the difficulties the
refugees will face. He says the agency is helping to
revamp the water supply system in Ingushetia and make
other improvements in the republic's infrastructure.
(SIGNED)
NEB/LS/WTW/RAE
07-Sep-2000 12:34 PM EDT (07-Sep-2000 1634 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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