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Refugees fear death in war-torn Chechen homeland
November 28, 2002

SLEPTSOVSK, Russia (Reuters) - Refugees in tent camps along the border with Chechnya said Thursday they were scared to return to their war-torn homeland as the authorities piled on pressure for them to go.

Russia wants to send home some 70,000 Chechen refugees who have been living in neighboring Ingushetia since the Kremlin sent troops into Chechnya in 1999 in its second post-Soviet attempt to crush a drive for independence.

Many of the potential returnees say their lives would be in danger if they went back to Chechnya, which seethes with daily violence as rebels keep up armed attacks on Russian forces.

"Most people still have no plans to return to Chechnya where they expect nothing but death," said Vakha Gaitukayev, a 44-year-old father of four who has spent years in the IMAN camp in northern Ingushetia. "I won't go home before the war is over."

Officials have for months said they wanted the refugees to return to Chechnya, but efforts to vacate the camps moved into overdrive after Chechen guerrillas seized a packed Moscow theater last month.

A total of 129 hostages died when Russian special forces stormed the theater after three days to end the stand-off.

The Ingush authorities told refugees last month the impoverished republic could no longer support them and said they all had to leave by Dec. 20.

FAMILIES TOLD TO PACK

Gaitukayev said Chechen and Ingush officials had visited the camp, which is guarded by heavily armed Russian soldiers, and told families to pack up as soon as possible.

"They were pointing at the soldiers all the time, saying if the Russians came here they would be a lot less gentle and it was better for us to leave before anything bad happened," he said.

The European Union, a major aid donor to Chechnya, has protested against Moscow's drive to resettle the refugees, saying a lack of security in the separatist region did not allow for their safe return.

Russia, whose troops die almost daily from rebel attacks, insists it has established control over the region and built adequate housing for the returning refugees, some 30,000 of whom live in Ingushetia in tents.

But the stick seemed to work better than the carrot.

"They told me that if I don't go they will burn down my tent, turn off power and gas in the camp and that all those who stay will be regarded as guerrillas," said Maret, a 42-year-old widow from the Chechen capital Grozny, as she went about dismantling her tent.

Maret said fatherless families were most vulnerable to such threats from officials and she was about to join several dozen people who had already left for Chechnya over the last week.

"I just cannot stand it when my family is threatened in such a way," she said.

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