Refugees return to Chechnya to swap their life in a tent for one in a room at a lodging houseRuslan Isayev, North Caucaus – On Friday 68 people returned from Nazran, Ingushetia, to a temporary accommodation facility for refugees in Argun, east of the Chechen capital Grozny. The people are mainly from Grozny, where their houses had been completely destroyed during fights.
One of the returnees, Luiza Barshigova, before the war used to live in a nine-story house on the Lenin street near the Minutka square. Now the building is completely ruined, stripped even of its foundations. In October 1999, Luisa and her two daughters, three- and seven-year-old, left Grozny for Ingushetia, taking only some clothes in a small bag with them. More than two years she they were sharing a military tent with three other families in the Karabulak refugee camp.
“As cold weather is coming, it is impossible for me to live in such conditions,” says Luiza. “My little girls often catch cold. The tent fell into disrepair a year ago, there is a cold draught there and your back freezes when standing just one meter from the stove.”
That is why Luiza Barshigova decided to swap the life in the tent for one in a room at a lodging house in Argun. “Of course, I am worried”, says Luiza. „Argun is of ill repute in Chechnya. It was under fire some time ago and people were killed. But I cannot stay even here. My children are ill and I am not quite well anymore myself. Moreover, I am totally fed up with living here in such dirt with people I don’t know.“
The people coming to Argun find accommodation in the building of a local vocational school No. 30, which is situated in the eastern part of town, close to the industrial zone where fights erupt quite often. Sultan Daurbekov, a pro-Moscow Chechen administration representative, says that the place is just adequate for the needs of the people waiting till the question of their housing is solved. Every family of returnees gets one room with a light, gas and heating.
Attempts to return Chechen refugees to their country were made in the past as well but people are unwilling to go back. The principal reasons are obvious: Chechnya suffers from continuing fights, Russian soldiers carry out endless “mopping-up” operations, people get unaccounted-for without a trace and there are virtually no guarantees of security there. Those who had believed official propaganda and decided to start their new life back in Chechnya, often became refugees again. But one way or another, the people who are forced to wander far from their homes have no choice to make but return to Chechnya although they are worried about their lives there.
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