UN Wire

CHECHNYA: Aid Groups Pull Out After Kidnap Of Humanitarian Worker

The United Nations and several international organization have announced they have suspended humanitarian operations in Chechnya after a US aid worker was kidnapped this week.

"For the time being, we have suspended our humanitarian program in Chechnya," said Toby Lanzer, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Moscow. In December alone, the UN World Food Program provided food aid to approximately 110,000 Chechens. Lanzer noted that the UN will continue to work in neighboring Ingushetia, North Ossetia "and other areas of the North Caucasus" (Henry Meyer, Agence France-Presse/ReliefWeb, 11 Jan).

Kenny Gluck, from Medecins Sans Frontieres, and three Chechen bodyguards were kidnapped by masked gunmen Tuesday near the town of Starie Atagi, approximately 20 kilometers south of the Chechen capital of Grozny (BBC Online, 11 Jan). Gluck was part of a four-car convoy including workers from Action Contre la Faim and national medical staff.

"MSF is extremely concerned about the fate of their colleague and is outraged by this direct attack on a clearly marked humanitarian convoy that was delivering medical assistance to the Chechen population," the group said in a statement (MSF release/ReliefWeb, 10 Jan). The attack occurred in broad daylight (Los Angeles Times/Dallas Morning News, 11 Jan).

Action Contre la Faim, whose mission head Jonathan Littell managed to escape kidnappers, also suspended activities in Chechnya yesterday (Meyer, AFP/ReliefWeb). The Danish Refugee Council decided yesterday to remove its four staffers working in Chechnya (Associated Press, 11 Jan).

The European Commission urged nongovernmental organizations it sponsors to suspend relief operations in Chechnya, a spokesperson said yesterday. It reported that the International Committee for the Red Cross, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and MSF were among those already following this advice. The European Union is the largest donor in the region. Last year, $24.3 million in EC funds went to Chechnya (Agence France-Presse/Russia Today, 12 Jan).

The Russian military blamed Chechen rebels, led by warlord Ramzan Akhmadov, for the attack. Rebel spokesperson Movladi Udugov denied that rebels were involved, as did Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov's office (Agence France-Presse/Russia Today, 11 Jan). Udugov said the kidnapping occurred in an area where Russian troops are posted every 200 yards. "It is impossible to kidnap anyone without the knowledge of Russian soldiers," he said (Yuri Bagrov, Associated Press/Boston Globe, 10 Jan). Akhmadov today accused Russian special forces of the kidnapping (Agence France-Presse, 12 Jan).

Udugov also said rebels no longer have any financial need to kidnap foreigners. Russian authorities say more than 1,000 aid workers, journalists, Russian soldiers and citizens have been kidnapped by armed bandits and held for ransom, mostly since the 1994-96 civil war in Chechnya (David Filipov, Boston Globe, 11 Jan).

In the past, kidnappers have often cut off the fingers of captives, chained them in pits or used them as slaves (Yuri Bagrov, Associated Press/Boston Globe).

Rebel Chechens and pro-Russian officials in Chechnya pledged yesterday to try to free Gluck. Officials from Russia's Federal Security Service have also gone to Chechnya to investigate (Yuri Bagrov, Associated Press/Nando.net, 12 Jan).

No ransom has been received for Gluck, Russian authorities say. Widespread kidnappings like this one, however, caused most relief organizations including MSF to pull out of Chechnya in 1997. MSF returned to the region in December 1999 after Russian troops had established greater control.

Russian authorities said aid workers were partly to blame because they had been travelling without military escort (Filipov, Boston Globe). Russia's military commander in Chechnya also said Gluck had been working in the province without official permission (BBC Online, 10 Jan). MSF said, however, it had always worked with the approval of the civilian and military authorities (MSF release II/ReliefWeb, 10 Jan).

Gluck, the regional mission head of MSF, had been traveling around Chechnya for the past nine months. He had been openly critical of Russia's lack of support, accusing soldiers of refusing to let wounded civilians pass checkpoints. Last month, Gluck said on Russian television that many civilians would freeze if it were not for tents and blankets provided by relief groups (Filipov, Boston Globe).

A US State Department spokesperson said Wednesday, "We'll certainly continue our efforts to establish the whereabouts, and certainly the welfare of this American citizen and try to secure his release" (AFP/Russia Today, 11 Jan). Yesterday, the State Department called for Gluck's immediate release. "It's important that his abductors honor the Geneva convention, which has provisions on the safety of civilians in during armed conflicts," said State Department spokesperson Philip Reeker (Agence France-Presse/Russia Today II, 12 Jan).