Refugees hold rally at Bella camp in SleptsovskayaRuslan Isayev, North Caucasus – Those refugees who do not want to return to Chechnya held a rally at the Bella camp in the Ingush town of Sleptsovskaya on Wednesday, December 11. Many of them held posters with anti-war content.
Employees of the migration service spoke to the people, persuading them that the return operation will proceed purely on a voluntary basis. They suggested to the refugees to form organised groups and travel to Grozny to get acquainted with the living conditions for the returnees.
Talking to the refugees, head of the Chechen migration service Asu Dudurkayev said that it is one of his duties to organise the return of those who expressed their willingness to do so. “But ensuring their security is not our responsibility,” he said.
A refugee woman named Roza from Chechen-Aul said she does not want to return to Chechnya. “I travelled back home many times and I could see how people live there. The impossibility to work normally, travel freely and, most importantly, the lack of safety for civilians make the return unacceptable for us.” She claims that the residents of refugee camps had been proposed either to return voluntarily, or to see their tents destroyed by tanks.
At the meeting there were also several people who had gone to Chechnya to temporary accommodation centers (TAC). Now they came to the meeting to ask for permission to return to their tents. Their request was turned down, they said.
An old woman named Kheda moved into one of the TACs in Grozny last year. According to her all people who live there would gladly return back to Ingushetia.
“Before we moved there,” says Kheda, “they promised us manna from heaven. And what have we got? Fear for our children, lawlessness of Russian soldiers and total disregard from the side of local authorities. Recently, the building of our TAC came under fire from Russian soldiers. It is nearly a miracle no one was hurt,” she adds.
The refugees say their patience is wearing thin and no one can tell how mentally exhausted people, who are in majority in the camps, will respond when someone comes to talk them into returning to Chechnya. Already today at the meeting some refugees called for responding by force to the growing pressure.
(D/T) |
