Military

DATE=11/09/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-269036

TITLE=WFP / CHECHNYA (L ONLY)

BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN

DATELINE=GENEVA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The United Nations World Food Program, the W-F-P, says many people in the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya are fleeing to neighboring Ingushetia in search of food and other relief supplies. Lisa Schlein has more from Geneva.

TEXT: U-N officials say that, with winter approaching, many people in Chechnya are becoming desperate. The officials say that more than six-thousand Chechens crossed into Ingushetia last month and the numbers are growing every day.

A spokeswoman for the U-N's World Food Program, Christiane Berthiaume, says Chechens are fleeing because they are unable to obtain the food and medicine they need to survive.

/// BERTHIAUME ACT ///

We are very, very concerned about the ones that are in Chechnya. You know electricity, water, gas are not fully back in Grozny, and winter is coming, and it is very cold over there.

/// END ACT ///

In October, W-F-P was able to bring enough food into Chechnya to feed 75-thousand people. But Ms. Berthiaume says another 140-thousand people are in need. She fears that, because of a lack of money and the continuing insecurity in Chechnya, her agency may not be able to provide Chechens with the assistance they need. That will mean more of them will flee.

/// 2ND BERTHIAUME ACT ///

The most important thing is to stabilize people. It is always very sad for people to have to leave their houses, to abandon the places of origin to go somewhere else. They want to stay home, and it is important to bring them relief where they are. And, obviously, if they cannot get it, they will go where they can get it. It is easier for us to bring relief to Ingushetia. We've been able, and we are able, to feed the already 150-thousand displaced people that are in Ingushetia.

/// END ACT ///

For most of the year, Ms. Berthiaume says, W-F-P has been woefully under-funded. It needs 14-million U-S dollars to assist the Chechens until the end of the year. If the agency had the money, she says, it would find a way of bringing food into Chechnya, despite the risks. (Signed)

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