Chechen refugees in Ingushetia (1999-2002)Information about Chechen refugees in Ingushetia. From September 1999 to the present.
Timur Aliyev, North Caucasus - The first Chechens to seek refuge in Ingushetia during the last Chechen war appeared already at the end of September 1999 when Chechnya itself realized that a new war was inevitable. Russia had its military forces massed at the northern borders of Chechnya and reconnaissance planes scrutinizing it from above. Huge throngs of people gushed from the country to the only neighboring state that let them into its territory – Ingushetia.
Within just a few months, the Migration Office of the Republic of Ingushetia recorded more than 180 thousand refugees; counting only those who passed through the registration.
The refugees were lodged in tent camps, former warehouses and production premises that became known as “sites of compact living” (due to the fairly large amount of refugees crammed in such a small space), and also in the private sector (renting a place or moving in for free upon the landlord’s consent). Tent camps and “sites of compact living” started to be called “temporary accommodation points” (TAPs).
The refugees de facto were not perceived as refugees de jure, and were not entitled to any legal benefits in the territory of the Russian Federation. Their status was defined as “temporarily displaced persons”, for Russia refused to admit that it leads military actions in Chechnya, referring to the warfare merely as an “anti-terrorist operation”. The provision of refugee status to the Chechen citizens could be regarded as the acknowledgement of war.
The idea of possible repatriation of Chechen refugees back to Chechnya is not new. It had already been considered during the presidency of Ruslan Aushev, whose politics of hospitality towards the closely ethnically related nation allowed the Chechens to remain in Ingushetia.
Due to this reason, as well as his strong influence in the region, Aushev proved unsuitable for the Kremlin pursuing the trend of strengthening the center’s power while weakening the position of regions, and was forced to retire. Despite strong opposition from Aushev’s group, Moscow’s protégé and KGB general Murat Zyazikov gained a victory in the new presidential elections.
On 29 May 2002 (one day after the new president took office), the Russian Federal Minister charged with Chechen issues, Vladimir Yelagin, and Russian presidential envoy in the Southern Federal Region (where both Ingushetia and Chechnya are included), Viktor Kazantsev, signed and the head of Chechnya's Moscow-backed administration, Akhmad Kadyrov, and President of Ingushetia, Murat Zyazikov, approved a document entitled “Plan Of Activities of Federal Bodies of Executive Power, Government of the Republic of Chechnya, Government of the Republic of Ingushetia on final measures for return of IDPs from Ingushetia to Chechnya” (the official English translation of the Russian document; PW editors).
Pursuant to this plan, all TAPs in the territory of Ingushetia were to be completely shut down by the end of October. The 20 point document included a new registration of refugees dwelling in Ingushetia, organization of their transport to Chechnya and their subsequent relocation there, re-allocation of humanitarian aid and full closure of Ingush TAPs.
It was obvious from the signing date that the plan could not have been prepared within the 24 hours following the inauguration and must have been drafted earlier.
According to human rights defenders, the plan had deficiencies too. The number of places in Chechnya designated as sites for TAPs was insufficient and the safety of its inhabitants was questionable. Consequently, the refugees were in no hurry to return. For the Kremlin, striving to end the war de jure at least in the eyes of the international community, Chechen returnees represented essential proof of its peaceful initiatives in Chechnya which could be presented to the world.
Tent camps, which Western journalists and human rights defenders usually emphasized in relation to the refugees in Ingushetia, became the most problematic issue of the plan. The first and foremost objective of the Ingush relocation committees was to close these camps by any means. Given that Chechens would not go back to their home country voluntarily and due to the lack of places for living there, a new idea emerged – to move the Chechens from tents to the TAPs in the territory of Ingushetia. The refugees, however, refused to leave the places they had become accustomed to upon the justifiable assumption that in their new location, they would have to arrange everything again.
One such conflict happened in early September in a tent camp called “Iman” in the vicinity of the Aki-Yurt village. Some 2,600 refugees held a protest meeting there, balking to move from the well set-up camp with a school, kindergarten, sports hall, psychological center, hot meal facility, etc. to the industrial premises of a former radio factory in the town of Malgobek where, according to their words, the roof is partly damaged and rooms, resembling honeycomb, are divided by sheets hanging on a rope.
The first deputy commander of Federal Migration Office of the Ministry of Interior of the Russian Federation, Major-General Igor Yunash, responsible according to the Plan for organizing the transport of refugees to Chechnya and closing down TAPs in Ingushetia, commanded the refugees to abandon the camp and move to Malgobek within twenty-four hours. In case they declined to cooperate, he declared he would use force – federal troops or OMON units – to move them, and tear down their tents with bulldozers. In the end the conflict was defused, but on his departure Yunash threatened that all refugees will be evicted anyhow.
Because the schedule of refugee transport failed to be met, the plans had to be revised. A conference of representatives of the governments of Chechnya and Ingushetia took place on October 15 in Magas, the capital of Ingushetia. The deputy of the Russian presidential envoy in the Southern Federal Region Alexandr Korobeynikov also attended the meeting. The parties agreed the Chechen refugee camps in Ingushetia must be shut down by the end of the current year.
Both sides newly divided the responsibilities in organizing the refugees’ return. The Chechen side will prepare the sites for reception and placement of incoming people. The Ingush administration will be responsible for the logistics of deporting the refugees back.
Chechen Prime Minister Stanislav Ilyasov says that census data from Ingushetia obtained in the mid-October all-Russian census show there are eighteen thousand refugees living in tent camps. He claims that five thousand of them have intact homes in Chechnya, six thousand will be accommodated in houses rented for their purposes in Grozny, and seven thousand will be placed in TAPs. Guaranteeing safety for those who return Ilyasov recalls the figure of 1,100,000 inhabitants living at present in Chechnya according to the census. In his view, this number serves as evidence the situation in Chechnya is calm.
The meeting did not deal with the question of the future fate of refugees not living in tent camps. The number of Chechen refugees in Ingushetia was put at 66,000. Data provided by human rights organizations are somewhat different – 92,000 and 181 temporary living centers (TAPs).
Practically instantly after the conference refugees in tent camps started to be subject to moral and physical pressure. On October 25, 2002, four tent camps – “Satsita”, “Bela”, “Alina”, and “Sputnik” in the vicinity of the village Ordzhonikidzevskaya (a settlement closest to the Chechen border in Ingushetia) – were surrounded many Russian troops. Federal servicemen started entrenching themselves along the perimeter of all four camps and setting up military check-points. Armed soldiers from Interior Ministry troops started patrolling within the camps, setting off flares at night.
The Russian military and the local police are trying to carry out mopping-up operations (“zachistky”) among the displaced people from the Chechen Republic. They stop people in the streets to check their documents. They imposed a sort of a curfew – refugees cannot leave the camps after eight in the evening.
On October 26, a Russian military helicopter flew low above the “Bart” refugee camp in the territory of the town of Karabulak, scattering leaflets with a caricature of Shamil Basayev.
On October 29, the commander of the compact-living refugee camp “Ing-Avto” was seized by unknown men. According to his wife, 8-10 masked men burst into the room in which he lived with his family and drove off with him in two cars with Chechen license plates.
At the same time, the process of peaceful persuasion of refugees is running. The head of the Moscow-backed Chechen government Stanislav Ilyasov personally tours the refugee camps in Ingushetia, inviting people to return back home. Ilyasov announces the tent cities will be taken down at any rate by the end of the year, and assures the refugees that if they return, the Chechen authorities will meet all their demands.
(P,D/T) |
