Move of displaced Chechens in Ingushetia ‘positive’ solution– UN agency

The last group of Chechens at a refugee camp in Ingushetia has voluntarily moved to another camp in the Russian republic, allowing the closure of Camp Bella and marking a “positive step towards better cooperation” with local authorities, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced today.

According to UNHCR, displaced Chechens had been under pressure to leave Ingushetia. Power and gas to Camp Bella had been cut off earlier in the month in what the agency called “heavy handed tactics.”

After extensive negotiations between UNHCR, the local and federal authorities as well as the displaced people themselves, the authorities made a number of guarantees to Bella's inhabitants, most of whom chose to stay in Ingushetia for now instead of returning home, the UN agency said. The group of about 1,000 persons was moved to Camp Satsita, bringing the total of Chechens there to approximately 3,500.

One point of contention was a group of 85 Chechens who were not registered with the migration authorities and feared that they would be excluded from any relocation within Ingushetia, UNHCR said. After the agency intervened with the Federal Migration Service (FMS) in Moscow, this group received assurances that they would be registered at their new home in Satsita camp.

The agency reported that the power and gas was restored to Bella while the negotiations continued, and described the agreement as a “positive step toward better cooperation between UNHCR and the local and federal authorities.”

“UNHCR hopes that this more constructive approach, which took into account the rights and interests of all parties, will be replicated in the future, replacing heavy-handed tactics such as cutting off utilities,” Peter Kessler, a spokesman for the agency, said in Geneva.