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Obstacles to Humanitarian Aid in the Northern Caucasus (2)

Oscar Braun, special to Prague Watchdog

Humanitarian work in the Northern Caucasus is mostly carried out by international non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Funding is provided by the European Union (currently the biggest donor in the area), UN agencies (such as UNHCR, WFP, UNICEF and others), NGOs’ internal resources and their national governments or private donors. The vast majority of commodities is purchased locally and transported and distributed by the NGOs around Ingushetia and Chechnya. Out of the approximately 30 international NGOs currently active in the Northern Caucasus, only a third are actually also working on the Chechen territory.

1. Permits to Chechnya

Humanitarian workers in the Northern Caucasus definitely do not lack in stress and mental exhaustion. Both abound in attempts to gain access to Chechnya. For those who want to extend their activities from relatively smooth and safe Ingushetia to totally devastated Chechnya where relief aid is far more needed, mere attempts to cross the border quickly become a recurring nightmare. Sometimes it seems as if the entire senselessness of the Soviet bureaucratic system, doubled by the wartime chaos in the Northern Caucasus and the disintegration of the Russian military forces, is embodied in the signed and stamped piece of paper called ‘a permit’.

Humanitarians trying to cross the Chechen border can easily get the feeling that soldiers as well as the pro-Russian Chechen government do their best to prevent anyone from going anywhere. The intention is difficult to prove but reality speaks for itself. In order to enter the territory of the Chechen Republic, any international humanitarian worker or humanitarian convoy must hold a special permit issued by the military headquarters of the federal forces in the Northern Caucasus in Khankala in cooperation with the pro-Moscow Chechen administration in Grozny.

Should you wish to travel to Chechnya, the first conundrum you have to deal with is how to get from Nazran, Ingushetia (where your office is located) all the way to Grozny, deep inside Chechnya, in order to apply for an entry permit for you or your humanitarian convoys. Obviously, you cannot set off on such a journey just by yourself. You would be stopped at the first Chechen checkpoint and sent back to Ingushetia. Thus in order to obtain your longed-for permit, you have no choice but to rely on various local messengers, partner organizations, long telephone calls and fax reports introducing in detail your organization, its plans and programs. Only then is there a chance that you might fall on your feet and see the hoped-for permit.

Crossing the Chechen border, you should be fully aware of the dangers and pitfalls of the situation in Chechnya. In some places a country completely destroyed, Chechnya experiences the typical dangers of a postwar country: accidental explosions, occasional shootings, landmines, contaminated water, various infections as well as a disjointed and unreliable administration.

In addition to personal safety, it is also crucial to get on with the Russian military. Russian soldiers operating at checkpoints scattered all over the Chechen Republic (especially the mercenaries, so-called ”kontraktniki”) care only about your money. Your closely guarded permit with a stamp from the chief commander of the Russian federal forces in Chechnya (currently General Moltenskoi), which should theoretically guarantee your undisturbed journey through the checkpoints, gets rejected as an incorrect document, or torn into pieces while you are asked for a bribe in the next breath. The soldiers’ attitude remains unwavering even when you threaten to complain to your patrons at the Russian Armed Forces’ headquarters. You will not pass and that is the end of the discussion. The chaos and arbitrariness at the checkpoints is unimaginable. At times your humanitarian convoy passes ten checkpoints without the slightest trouble but next time you may get stuck for hours just because a certain commander ‘had a bad night’s sleep’. Your real or fabricated contacts with and appeals to Khankala headquarters are bluntly refused. It is all up to you. And your money.

It is not only humanitarian workers who get bullied and exploited by Russian soldiers. Chechen civilians will almost always pay between ten and thirty roubles for a car and as much as fifty rubles for a truck at checkpoints. Just on the road from Nazran to Grozny there are twelve ‘security checks’. Humanitarian missions after all belong to the ‘protected species’ whose potential complaints at headquarters still sometimes discourage the soldiers from being as rude as they are towards local Chechens. However, it is not always possible to avoid rather illogical tyre or light inspections, which mean a few hours waiting for the responsible officer who for some reason is ”not in the mood”, or helplessly watching arrogant soldiers throwing the humanitarian aid load out onto the muddy road due to a ”thorough control on alleged narcotics import.”

Those who suggest arguing with the frequently drunk Russian soldiers about their methods being not only illegal but also humiliating and far beyond the limits of politeness, should forget it as soon as possible. As many remember, this strategy almost lead to a tragedy in the case of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) representative in June 2001. During a routine inspection of the ICRC cars at one of the checkpoints in the Chechen capital Grozny, the ICRC worker got into an argument with drunk Russian soldiers and several shots were fired with one of them hitting the man in the stomach. He was operated on the same day, and according to ICRC reports his condition has now stabilized.

As soon as you learn how to deal with the Russian military and your humanitarian aid convoys start to cross the Chechen border quite regularly, a strange man appears in your Nazran office, introducing himself as a commissioner of the pro-Russian Chechen administration responsible for the inspection and distribution of humanitarian aid. What he wants to know is quite simple: information, as detailed as possible, on the destinations of your humanitarian convoys, on the nature and amount of aid they transport, on your organization’s future plans, etc. Without the required information, he claims, it is not possible for your organization to continue its activities in his country.

No sooner do you hand in the needed documents to the ‘commissioner’, than there will be another man at your door showing a similar identification card (‘Refugees Department’ or ‘Section for Work with Humanitarian Organization’ etc.). He asks for identical documents to those you have already sent to Grozny through his colleague. Any explanation is fruitless as he claims to be the only ”right man” for you to cooperate with. And what is particularly relevant – you should not forget that he will decide the future of your organization’s presence in Chechnya. Thus the painful procedure of arguing, explaining and finding out who is who starts again.

Nazran, the base of most international humanitarian organizations, is crowded with similar would-be officials and it is very difficult for a foreigner to distinguish between the real and the fake ones. The problem is that government officials in Chechnya are replaced almost every day. Ongoing quarrels 3between Alamat Shishkhanov and Lecha Gidizov from the ‘department for contact with humanitarian workers’ has become a popular theme of local legends. Each of the two undermines the work of the other and the result is total bureaucratic chaos that no humanitarian worker is willing to deal with.

Should you ignore Chechen officials, you will very soon see how powerful these ”men of authority” are. Some of your trucks may cross the Chechen border even without the needed documents but the next convoy will be stopped and returned. ‘How come you don’t have this permit? Why don’t you hold that document? Stop! You’re not going anywhere!’ The number of rules, instructions, orders, bans, provisions and regulations discourages everyone and the common man will simply decide to follow only the rules deemed absolutely necessary.

Your loaded trucks may still get stuck for several days due to a brand-new regulation with you having no power to do anything about it. And the more power the omnipresent Russian bureaucracy in the region has, the more it apparently wants. The latest regulations on the movement of humanitarian workers and convoys in the territory of Chechnya approved this summer by the new Chechen government provide excellent evidence of the fact: In addition to existing sets of permits, any foreigner crossing a Russian checkpoint must also submit cooperation contracts with one of the main international donors (UNHCR, WFP, UNICEF, EU) and his organization’s registration documents in the Russian Federation and in the Chechen Republic. However, what registration with the Chechen government looks like, where to get it and what is needed for its issue is not specified anywhere. Moreover, at least five days before the actual trip to Chechnya, an international humanitarian worker is obliged to deliver a detailed report on the planned route of his journey, the addresses of any accommodation and the exact purpose of his mission to the Chechen government in Grozny as well as to the local FSB (the secret intelligence service, formerly known as the KGB) department. The mission is then accompanied not only by its own security guards but also by a member of the Russian federal forces and an ‘assistant from the Chechen government’, as the government needs to have a good view of the situation. None of Grozny’s legislators have apparently thought of the absolutely unacceptable security risks that the new regulations impose in a region with such a high rate of kidnappings and assaults on foreigners. Uncompromisingly insisting on these regulations may even lead to a total withdrawal of foreign humanitarian aid from Chechnya as no humanitarian organizations will agree to follow them. Possible absence of humanitarian aid in the region may make Chechen officials (and the Russian secret service that has an important influence in the region) change their minds. Control is however necessary as for the Russian officials all humanitarian workers are just a bunch of weirdoes with mysterious intentions.

If you do not give up on your activities in Chechnya despite all obstacles and obstructions, communication with local administrators and the district and municipal mayors will remain an unforgettable working experience.

It is very typical for the new Chechen administration to be tightly interwoven with the criminal underworld that has quite a strong influence on public life. A number of state administration posts in Chechnya are sold for money, serving mainly as a means for reinforcing the prestige of a certain clan. The typical attitude of most Chechen mayors will be equally pragmatic – humanitarian aid in their village should increase their prestige and help them solve some of their problems. The general lack of relief aid in Chechnya plays into the hands of the humanitarian organizations - they provide at least some basic aid and thus are in most cases warmly welcomed.

However, troubles emerge as soon as there is not enough to go round, let alone to reach the mayor’s relatives and affiliates. The dissatisfied mayor may, for example, call the police and Russian soldiers, and accuse the humanitarian workers of corruption. Instances of humanitarian convoys being forced to return back to Nazran as soon as the outraged mayor found out that the names of his relatives were missing from the lists of aid recipients are also known. In order to preserve their independence and security humanitarian organizations have to distribute their aid according to transparent and clearly formulated rules and must succumb to any kind of pressure. Fortunately enough, most humanitarian aid finally finds its intended recipients and their words of thanks are after all a good salve for the often dreary feelings caused by the strenuous crossing of many an obstacle on the way to accessing the suffering Chechen population.

  RELATED ARTICLES:
 · Memorial: On the working conditions of international and foreign humanitarian organizations on the territory of the Chechen Republic (in Russian)