Throughout the last month the situation in the North Caucasus has seriously deteriorated. Fighting has been taking place in various districts of Dagestan. In this issue we will focus on the NGOs which exist and are currently working in this region. Obviously, the current situation influenced their normal operations, and forced to make significant changes in their future plans. Thus the information about their activities, that has been gathered recently but before the outbreak of violence may be outdated (new information has been difficult to obtain, due to communication problems). We believe, however, that it is essential to at least know of the existence of the following NGOs, which are located in the very center of the current ongoing conflicts.
Also, we are including in this issue a description of our efforts to prevent another inter-ethnic conflict from developing between local Chechens and other peoples of Dagestan.
1. Association of Women of Dagestan
The regional social organization "Maternal Hearth" was founded on June 8, 1999.
The main focus of activity of the Association is the preservation of peace, maternity and childhood by consolidating efforts of women of Dagestan.
The Association is promoting healthy way of life, struggling against addiction to: drugs, alcoholism, decline of ethics and morality, etc. The activists of "Maternal Hearth" were able to close a 24-hour alcohol shop in the Zarechenskii part of the city of Hasavyurt. Currently they are demanding to move the clinic for sexually transmitted diseases from the highly populated center to another less populated place.
The Association also participates in the search for a peaceful solution of the potentially explosive conflict situations in Novolakskii, Kazbekovskii and other districts of the Republic.
For successful resolution of these existing contradictions members of the Association consider it necessary to establish mutual collaboration between local NGOs. The Association plans to develop a net of NGOs, in collaboration with the Dagestan Regional Charitable Fund "SOS-Salvation"(formerly - the Hasavyurt Regional Charitable Fund "Salvation").
Address: Zarechnaya St., 3
Hasavyurt, Dagestan Republic, Russian Federation
Tel.: (872310) 36-64
Chair: Chermaeva Raisat Tahtabievna
2. Supporting disabled children, orphans and providing psychological rehabilitation for children affected during the war in Chechnya..
Since June 1999 in Dagestan the Social children's Fund "Mother's Heart" began providing social support for disabled children, orphans and offering psychological rehabilitation to children - victims of the war in Chechnya.
In June 1999 200 orphan children were taken out for a 20 day excursion to Azerbaijan. The Fund began collecting information about orphaned children, disabled children and children requiring psychological rehabilitation from the Chechen Republic Ichkeriya.
The Fund has a concrete plan of activities, agreements were reached with a number of recreating centers in Azerbaijan, Dagestan and other regions of Russia.
Address: Nefteprovodnaya St., 45
Hasavyurt, Dagestan, Russian Federation
Chair: Meshieva Tamusya Said-Alievna
3. Repatriation and defending the rights and interests of refugees and forced migrants.
The Hasavyurt region of the Dagestan Republic is one of the territories with the greatest concentration of refugees and forced migrants from the Chechen Republic. This category of citizens still remains socially unprotected and deprived of their civil rights.
In June 1999 members of the Regional Charitable Fund "Repatriate" began to conduct work on social protection of refugees and forced migrants from the Chechen Republic. They also plan to promote the return of refugees to their homes by establishing accommodation and employment opportunities in the Chechen Republic.
Currently the Fund "Repatriate" is monitoring the refugee situation in order to determine the required resources for supporting their repatriation and also for determining such resources in the towns and districts of the Chechen Republic.
Address: Komsomolskaya str.,126
Hasavyurt, Dagestan, Russian Federation
Chair: Sadykhova Malica
4. Charitable hospital in Dagestan
In the previous issues of the bulletin we wrote about the activity of the League for the Protection of Mother and Child. Now we would like to complete the information with new facts.
The Charitable hospital founded by the League has received 186 patients (pregnant women and women with gynecological diseases) during the last month, 40 of which have staid in the hospital. The hospital has 20 places; therefore the possibilities of stationary treatment are limited. Care of the patients is carried out by the efforts of 3 doctors, a hospital nurse examining at home and nurses on duty. Plans exist to include a doctor on duty into the staff and also to organize a surgery room. The organizers of charitable hospital see the need to develop a similar medical facility in the city of Derbent, in a district where receiving medical aid is difficult due to mountainous landscape. So far they were unable to achieve this task due to the lack of support.
Members of the League did not remain unaffected by the current situation in Dagestan. In reply to the tragic events taking place they have prepared an appeal to the President of the Russian Federation with an initiative to establish a group for conducting negotiations in order to put an end to the armed conflict.
Address: Ermoshkina St., 3,
Mahachkala, Dagestan Republic, Russian Federation
Phone: (8722) 67-29-74
Concerns over Dagestan - will the current war lead to civil strife within the republic?
Our organization, Nonviolence International, is currently trying to do its most to avoid a civil conflict in Dagestan which could develop as a result of the ongoing hostilities.
The fighting today is taking place in some western districts of Dagestan between intruders from neighboring Chechnya and the federal troops, supported by most of the local population.
However, this picture is complicated by the fact that a large percent of the population in the districts where the fighting is going on are local Chechens (also known as akkin-chechens). The majority of the Chechen population in Dagestan denounced the invasion and announced that they were ready to fight in order to protect their homes together with other peoples of Dagestan.
However, certain incidents were reported in the media of some local Chechens supporting the invaders. Though while the fighting continues it is difficult to verify these reports, they have already created a wave of negative attitudes toward the Chechens in Dagestan. It is important to understand, that though the invaders came from Chechnya and a significant portion of them are ethnic Chechens, there are also many ethnic Dagestanee's among them, as well as people of other ethnic origin.
The danger today is that as the number of incidents between local Chechens and other people increases, a danger develops of serious inter-ethnic clashes, since both sides bear a significant amount of arms and are not known for being well disciplined. If that is to happen the whole context of the current fighting will change and the extremist forces will multiply. The Dagestan Chechens risk being deported from their homes. Leaflets, calling for a total deportation of the Dagestan Chechens are currently being circulated in Dagestan, the source of these leaflets is unclear at this moment.
The situation, however, is not hopeless. On Thursday, the 16th the head of the Dagestan State Council made a strong statement defending the Chechens of Dagestan. (This came in contradiction to calls from some local "strong men", who tried to solve their peoples problems at the cost of the local Chechens.) So today the situation is at a stage where it can turn both to the better and to the worst.
In this situation even minor efforts to avoid a deterioration of the situation may play an important role. Nonviolence International is working in close contact on one hand with members of the leadership of the Dagestan Chechens, on the other - with some deputies of the Russian State Duma (lower house of the Russian Parliament) who have good contacts with members of the executive branch of the Russian Government. We believe that at this point we will be able to prevent a new escalation of violence.
Help is urgently needed, however. At the current moment we are trying to achieve the following:
- Set up reliable communication with the local Chechen leadership in Dagestan (unfortunately the only available mean for that are satellite phones, since local phone lines are unreliable and cellular phone systems don't cover all the necessary points and have been switched off by the Russian authorities).
- Provide the leadership of the Dagestan Chechens with copying equipment, so they could respond to provocative leaflets by informing people about their true position, and call on people to maintain inter-ethnic peace, etc.
- Engage both the Chechen and the non-Chechen population of the bordering districts in joint humanitarian activities, in helping victims of the conflict. This joint work must help people overcome their prejudice and strengthen inter-ethnic ties.
- Distribute information about the situation in the mass media, prepare appeals to maintain inter-ethnic peace, highlight the fact that any other option will be disastrous for all people of Dagestan.
Today we don't think that the local population at this particular moment would properly understand appealing to the international community. However, it might become a necessity in the near future, if things continue to deteriorate.
What is needed at this point is financing (at least on a small scale - but urgent) and possibly - humanitarian aid for victims of the conflict.
Together we shall be able to prevent another war!
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