Ingushetia Situation Report No. 11

Latest developments
1. A foreign hostage was freed in Chechnya last week;

2. Russian Armed Forces focus on Chechnya’s southern mountains in their attempts to hit the rebels’ strongholds;

3. The Chechen President announces the beginning of all-out guerilla war in Chechnya;

1. A Yugoslav businessman held hostage in Chechnya for more than two years was freed. Stanimir Petrovic, manager of the Albanoexportimport firm, was abducted at the Sleptsovsky airport in Ingushetia in 1997. Mr. Petrovic was sold by the kidnappers to a Chechen field commander. The suspects' names was not disclosed. According to Russian officials, Mr Petrovic was freed by officers of Russia's Interior Ministry Department Against Organised Crime and criminal investigators from the North Caucasus. A number of foreign hostages are still being held in the area.

2. After the seizure of Grozny, Russian forces focused their offensive against Chechen rebels on the southern mountains where thousands of fighters have strongholds. Russia already claims to have a key gorge under control. The Argun and Vedeno gorges have been important targets of the Russians since thousands of rebels fled the Chechen capital, Grozny, this month. The gorges provide main thoroughfares for rebels in the mountains. Federal troops have taken control of the Vedeno Gorge and the fighting has shifted to the Argun Gorge. Several villages, where rebels are believed to be hiding, have been encircled. Despite difficult weather conditions, Russian warplanes and helicopter gunships flew around 100 missions a day in Chechnya over the past few days, targeting the gorges. Russian officials estimate that up to 8,000 rebels are in the mountains, whose rugged terrain offers shelter for their hit-and-run guerrilla attacks. The military command said the air attacks wiped out 18 rebel bases and strongholds and destroyed two communication stations. But the Russian forces face substantial difficulty in routing the rebels from the mountains. Russia's NTV television, quoting the military, said on 14/02 that the rebels are planning large-scale terrorist operations in Chechen areas that the Russians claim to have liberated. The guerrilla campaign has already begun, and each operation may involve from 300 to 500 rebels. Although Russia claims to control most of Chechnya after nearly five months of fighting, rebels last week ambushed two military trains and attacked federal units, demonstrating that they can still inflict bloody damage on Russian forces.

3. A few days ago the Chechen President, Aslan Maskhadov, announced the beginning of "a large-scale civil war in the mountains, the lowlands, in every village". He added that the Chechen people "are rising up," having realised that the Russian military campaign is directed against them rather than against "terrorists," as Moscow claims. Maskhadov also criticised the recent decision by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to postpone a debate on whether Russia's membership in the council should be suspended because of that country's actions in Chechnya. Maskhadov expressed regrets that six months after the war began, not a single representative of the UN, the OSCE, or the European Parliament has offered to meet with him.

Funding

The on-going DRC Emergency Relief Assistance Program for Chechnya IDPs in Ingushetia has become possible due to donations made by several organizations and international aid agencies. The donors’ list is headed by DANIDA (Danish Relief Agency) and followed by ECHO (EU), Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), UNHCR, Danish Church Aid and Stichting Vluchteling (Netherlands). The funds are primarily being used for meeting the needs of IDPs in winter clothing in the period from 15/11/1999 to 15/05/2000. The below diagram presents percentage-breakdown of the funding received through DRC in Copenhagen. In addition, UNHCR also provides in-kind contributions of winter clothing for distribution under the DRC system.

Distribution

DRC Emergency Assistance Project

In the period from 6/02 to 13/02, DRC conducted several distributions of DANIDA, UNHCR and UNICEF relief items for IDPs of all age groups living in spontaneous settlements and with host families in the locations below.

Apart from the above-mentioned UNICEF hygienic items, DRC has also distributed UNICEF tooth pastes to IDPs living in spontaneous settlements and with host families in Aki-Yurt, Mayskiy and Nazran City as follows:

On 11/02, UNICEF suspended its distributions through DRC. According to UNICEF, the additional costs incurred by direct distribution cannot be justified in the agency’s budget for Ingushetia operations. Following the suspension, UNICEF has moved its stocks from DRC’s warehouse in Nazran.

Total number of winter clothing distributed by DRC in Ingushetia so far:

Winter coats :46,481
Winter boots: 52,061 [The consolidated cumulative table on DRC distributions is attached.]

Registration

Last week DRC continued processing of already accomplished registration of the total IDP population in Ingushetia. According to the data obtained from the DRC Processing Center in Nazran, the total number of IDPs registered so far is 191,846. Out of them, 181,186 are the displaced from Chechnya and 1655 - IDPs from Prigorodniy District (North Ossetia - Alania). As many as 210,261 IDPs have already been included into a computer database. Currently, DRC field workers in Ingushetia continue registering the Ingush host families who offered shelter to the majority of IDPs living in Ingushetia. A total of 3,000 Ingush host families are registered so far.

Inter Agency Issues

On 14/02 an Inter-Agency meeting took place at DRC FO-Nazran. Among the participants there were such NGOs as MDM, MSF-Holland, MSF-Belgium, ACF, Benevolence International Foundation, Islamic Relief, DRC. The meeting discussed the problems of coordination of relief activities on the field level. The representatives welcomed and supported the idea of the total registration of IDPs in Ingushetia conducting by DRC. The next Inter-Agency meeting is scheduled to take place at DRC FO - Nazran premises on 18/02 at 10:00 am.

On 14/02 DRC Nazran Coordinator. Kharon Deniev, met with representatives of Care International who were in Ingushetia on an assessment mission. The parties visited one of DRC’s distribution and highly appreciated the system of distribution utilized by DRC in Ingushetia. On the same day, DRC North Caucasus Program Manager Tom Trier in Stavropol met with representatives of the Association for Aid and Relief (Japan) and discussed possible prospects for co-operation on emergency operations in Ingushetia.

Stavropol, 14 February 2000.

For further information, please contact:

Tom Trier (8) 901 498 08 25
Zelim Yandarov (8) 901 498 08 24

ATTACHMENT

DRC distribution of UNHCR winter clothing in Ingushetia

Distribution of DANIDA funded winter clothing in Ingushetia

DRC distribution of NRC winter clothing in Ingushetia

DRC distribution of DCA funded winter clothing in Ingushetia

DRC distribution of UNICEF winter jackets, soaps, laundry powder, tooth pastes and jerry cans

Total number of non-food items distributed by DRC’s direct distribution system in Ingushetia so far: