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To: Yaacov who wrote (14670)	9/28/1999 3:03:00 PM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 17770

Ingushetia Seeks UN Aid as 100,000 Refugees Flee Russian Bombs in Chechnya By Guy Faulconbridge Ingushetia Asks for Aid as 100,000 Refugees Flee From Chechnya Moscow, Sept. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Ingushetia, a southern Russian republic, appealed to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for assistance as an estimated 100,000 refugees flooded across its border, fleeing Russian air strikes in neighboring Chechnya. The refugees are arriving with little more than the clothes on their backs, said Francois Wuarin, director of the International Red Cross Delegation for the North Caucasus region. ``The refugees have nothing; they need water, food, clothing, sanitation and housing,' Wuarin said. Russian officials, however, said no outside help is needed for the refugees. Russia is bombing Chechnya, it says, in an attempt to kill Islamic militants it accuses of invading Dagestan, another republic in the region, and planting bombs in Russian cities that killed almost 300 people this month. Russia fought a bloody war in the breakaway republic of Chechnya from 1994 to 1996 that killed an estimated 80,000 and displaced about 250,000. ``I do not deem it necessary for Russia to apply to international organizations, especially such respected ones as the U.N., for help with the refugee problem,' Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said. The UNHCR and Red Cross said they are preparing relief efforts for Ingushetia as refugees continued to flee the Chechen capital, Grozny. ``Our Red Cross representatives seem to confirm that the city of Grozny has been emptied,' Wuarin said. The Ingushetian government estimates that a many as 100,000 refugees have arrived from Chechnya, and more are expected. The Red Cross has a budget of only 10 million Swiss francs for the North Caucuses in 1999. Wuarin said that many of the refugees will be taken in by families in Ingushetia. Even so, they face an uncertain future as winter approaches and the impoverished region tries to cope with a massive influx of people. ``The region has been torn apart by conflicts,' Wuarin said. ¸1999 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved. Terms of Service, Privacy Policy and Trademarks.

To: Yaacov who wrote (14670)	10/5/1999 10:06:00 PM
From: jbe	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 17770

Yaacov, sorry to be answering your Chechnya query more than a week late. Been busy & preoccupied with just that -- the Chechen situation. You ask about my background. Until last year, I was a correspondent with the VOA (Post-Soviet Affairs). I am also a "fully credentialed" historian, and I had developed a particular interest in the North Caucasus, to which I often travelled. I was planning to write a book on the area, which Americans were totally unfamiliar with, and I was in Chechnya, on a grant from the MacArthur Foundation, when the war began. So I stayed on, naturally, for the full year of the grant. Returned to cover 1996 peace negotiations, 1997 Chechen presidential & parliamentary elections.. One thing made me -- and still makes me -- cross. When I left for Chechnya, in Oct. 1994, the number of people who were interested in it could be counted on the fingers of one hand. But once the bombs started falling, everyone got interested! Conferences! Newly fledged "experts"! Ridiculous articles! But when the bombs stopped falling, and everything seemed to be "settled," everyone lost interest again. Then -- the bombs started falling again! Then everybody got all interested again! Do you really have to be bombed, to get other people's interest??? As for sources, there are plenty, thanks to the Communications Revolution which has occurred in Russia since the 1994-1996 war: the Russian Internet has grown tremendously (even the "militants" have a website), and you don't have to go broke phoning people anymore, thanks to e-mail... My own sympathies in this matter are not with the Russians, not with Basayev & Khattab & Co., and not even with Maskhadov (who could have risen to the occasion, but did not, IMO). My sympathies are exclusively with ordinary Chechens, who have gotten it in the neck from everybody.. jbe