11 May 2004, 15:30
Federal Migration Service seeks pretext to close Satsita camp
A representative of the Russian Federal Migration Service, Mr Panasyuk, has demanded that the warden of the Chechen refugee tent camp Satsita, situated on the outskirts of the Ordzhonikidzevskaya village, Ingushetia's Sunzha district, should reduce the number of refugees living in the camp to 940 people by all means. This was reported by members of the public Refugee Council. Over 1,700 internally displaced persons from Chechnya (325 families) are living in this temporary accommodation center now.
The reduction of the number of camp inhabitants will give authorities a formal ground for the "legal" liquidation of the last large tent camp on the territory of Ingushetia. Officials of the Federal Migration Service have stated many times that it is uneconomic to maintain a camp with less than 1,000 inhabitants. Such was indeed the motive behind the closure of the tent camps Bart in the town of Karabulak and Sputnik in the village of Ordzhonikidzevskaya.
The warden of the Satsita camp has reportedly refused to fulfill the illegal demand of the migration service's representative and said to him word by word, "You will go away from here, and I will live here."
Source: Infromation Center of the Council of NGOs
