VLADIKAVKAZ, April 30 (Itar-Tass) - UNHCR (U.N. high commissioner for refugees) envoy to North Ossetia Vincent Cochetel kidnapped in Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia, has been held in captivity for four months and his fate remains unknown.
North Ossetian President Alexander Dzasokhov personally oversees the investigation of the kidnap. A special inter-agency investigation group has been set up to find Cochetel who is believed to be outside the republic.
Law enforcement agencies believe that the kidnappers hope to get a ransom. There have been reports saying that Cochetel is alive and is in neighbouring Chechnya. However, its law enforcement people said they had no information about his whereabouts.
North Ossetian Interior Ministry received a video cassette from Chechnya. On it Cochetel appealed for help to the Caucasus leaders and public organisations.
North Ossetian police maintains constant contact with their colleagues in Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan. Investigators hope that Cochetel and other hostages will be rescued.
During his recent trip to Grozny, Dzasokhov gave Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov a list of hostages who may be held in captivity in Chechnya.
Cochetel's capture may have a negative effect on the fate of forced migrants. The U.N. mission provides assistance to 100,000 refugees and displaced persons in the Caucasus.
In 1998, the U.N. plans to use five million U.S. dollars to this end. However, all assistance will be suspended until Cochetel is released. However, North Ossetian Migration Service head Anatoly Kachmazov told Itar-Tass that the UNHCR Office has decided not to curtail its assistance programmes for refugees returning to their homes in Georgia, South Ossetia, Chechnya, Ingushetia and North Ossetia.
UN suspends aid to Caucasus refugees until envoy is released.
Itar-Tass
29 April 1998
05:12 PM