Refugees may number 100,000 in Ingushetia

There are around 50,000 refugees in Ingushetia, 40,000 of them from the Chechen Republic, Ingush President Murat Ziazikov said at a press conference in the capital of Ingushetia, Magas, last Friday. All temporary refugee camps have been closed in the republic, according to the president.

Meanwhile, human rights defenders believe the total number of refugees in Ingushetia reaches 100,000, according to unofficial information. This is what Mariam Yandiyev, chair of the Ingushetia Regional Office of the International Society Memorial, said in a broadcast of Radio Echo of Moscow. Of them, almost 25,000 ethnic Ingush people, former Grozny, Chechnya, residents, have stayed in Ingushetia and are unlikely to go back to Chechnya one day, according to her.

Refugees from North Ossetia have stayed in Ingushetia since 1992 too, Ms Yandiyev noted. "Thirteen to fifteen thousand Ingush people have gone back to the Prigorodnyi district, North Ossetia, where they have been allowed to go. Some have settled down in various places in the CIS and other foreign countries, but most have stayed in Ingushetia."

The president of Ingushetia quotes figures provided by the Internal Affairs Ministry and the migration service," Ms Yandiyev remarked. "However, not all people are registered, for various reasons. Registration is not to one's benefit presently."

Ms Yandiyev says that the main obstacle that prevents, in particular, Chechnya refugees from returning home is the problem of security.

• Human rights defenders compare figures

More about Ossetian-Ingush conflict:

• Ossetian-Ingush conflict
• Present-day situation in 1992 Ossetian-Ingush conflict area (as of March 2002)