The United Nations has suspended all humanitarian
action in Chechnya for the time being in order to evaluate the situation
following the kidnapping of a staff member of Medicins sans Frontieres-Holland,
a UN spokesman said today.
Spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters
at UN Headquarters in New York that non-governmental organizations working
with the United Nations and those funded by the European Community Humanitarian
Office have similarly suspended operations.
Humanitarian assistance in other parts of the Northern Caucasus was continuing, Mr. Eckhard said.