Chechen official: Humanitarian organisations plan to transfer operations to Chechnya itself this yearTimur Aliyev, North Caucasus – In 2003 international humanitarian organisations plan to start transferring the focus of their activities from Ingushetia directly to Chechnya to a larger extent, said Musayp Visengereyev, the deputy head of the Chechen government's committee for providing governmental and humanitarian aid (the Chechen IDP committee).
Visengereyev said that the committee, which is authorised by the Moscow-backed Chechen government to co-ordinate the operation of these non-governmental organisations, has set as its goal for the year 2003 not only to reroute the bulk of humanitarian activities from the territory of Ingushetia but also to transfer their offices.
According to the committee, at present there are altogether 21 international non-governmental organisations operating in the territory of Chechnya. “But only four of them have their representations in the country itself,” Visengereyev noted.
Visengereyev gave several examples of humanitarian programmes carried out by NGOs. For example, through the World Food Programme of the United Nations more than 32,000 tonnes of various foodstuffs had been delivered to the republic and distributed among its citizens. “Through the medical programmes of the World Health Organisation, six humanitarian organisations have supplied medications to all medical facilities in Chechnya.... The Polish Humanitarian Action and the International Rescue Committee have supplied purified drinking water to all districts of Grozny.”
According to Visengereyev, the transfer of humanitarian activities of these as well as other organisations will, among others, “provide new job opportunities for the citizens of Chechnya.”
(D/T) |
