Refugees staying in makeshift shelters in Aki-yurt subject to pressureRuslan Isayev, North Caucasus, December 15 – Chechen refugees who decided to stay in the Ingush settlement of Aki-yurt are living in makeshift shelters and undergoing a second round of pressure from the local migration authorities.
Today there are about twenty such shelters remaining at the site of the dismantled camp Iman. The refugees who refused to leave the camp moved into them from their tents. One such construction costs roughly three thousand roubles. The refugees who remained on the premises of the camp had to buy them in order to be able to stay at their former site. Local authorities do not permit the inhabitants of these shacks to get connected to the grid, although the power and gas lines run within several metres’ distance. There were cases when refugees were threatened with fifteen-day jail sentences for connecting to the grid.
The life in adobe shacks without gas and lighting was fully acceptable for the forced displaced people refusing to return to Chechnya. However, the logical outcome is approaching. The authorities are very persistent in making it clear that situating shelters on the site of the dismantled camp is undesirable. The refugees are given three days for taking down the dwellings they have built. The refugees, in turn, knowing their defenceless situation, are careful not to put up open resistance to the authorities. Several families have already left their abodes and some are getting ready to do the same.
It should be noted that this particular category of refugees is the least wealthy. Those who work are paid no more than a pittance. This is yet another impediment for the refugees. Without sufficient resources for their further life and for finding another place to stay, these Chechens who fled from the war are forced to impose themselves to stay with some relatives in a similar situation. Lacking in comfort but not in good spirits, the main thing is to stay alive, they say.
Besides people living in the shelters, there still are many others living in a variety of non-residential buildings in Aki-yurt. According to various sources their number is somewhere between seven hundred and one thousand people. Most of them live in animal farms and workshops. Neighbouring the refugees remaining at the site of the former camp there are several permanently stationed vehicles with employees of Russian special services, observing the daily developments. Just as in the previous days, journalists cannot enter the site. Even humanitarian aid from the ICRC was held at the village entrance for an entire day before being let through. The shipment finally reached the refugees in the evening. (D/T) |
