17 May 2004, 17:53
Chechen refugees accuse migration services of not keeping promises
Threats and promises are used to force Chechen refugees living in the tent camp Satsita, situated on the outskirts of the village of Ordzhonikidzevskaya, Ingushetia's Sunzha district, to move to other temporary accommodation centers. In late April - early May, 20 families of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Chechnya living in Satsita were transported to a refugee center being built in Ordzhonikidzevskaya. When moving to the new place, the refugees were promised that all arrears of foodstuff by the Russian Emergencies Ministry would be given to them and they would be rendered assistance in settling problems they had in getting compensations and some other ones. Officials of various departments asserted that the new refugee center would be enlarged and because of the inevitable closure of the tent camp Satsita, some inhabitants from this camp would settled here. As of today, none of these promises has been kept, IDPs say. Refugees believe that the authorities and officials of the migration and other services deceive people in order to achieve their goals and when these goals are achieved, they immediately forget about the IDPs.
Source: Infromation Center of the Council of NGOs
