OSCE Head Pleads For Wider Outside Role In Chechnya
Farhan Siddiqui
ZNAMENSKOYE, Russia, Dec 17, 1999 -- (Reuters) The head of a top
European security organization visited the breakaway Russian region of
Chechnya on Thursday and renewed appeals to Moscow to grant the outside
world a wider role in solving the conflict.
Knut Vollebaek, Chairman of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and Norway's Foreign Minister, also urged
the international community to give more humanitarian aid after touring
northern Chechnya by helicopter.
He said reports that more than 100 Russian troops had died in the
Chechen capital Grozny overnight underscored a need for talks. Russia
has denied that clashes took place in Grozny, although they were
witnessed by a Reuters correspondent.
Russia has blocked OSCE offers to play any role other than providing
humanitarian aid and has rejected Vollebaek's appeals for a cease-fire
around Grozny.
Vollebaek visited a refugee camp, a school, a hospital and a checkpoint
about 10 km (six miles) from Grozny on what Russia says is a safe
corridor for refugees fleeing the bombings.
"What I have seen strengthens my view that we need dialogue and a
political solution," he said at the end of his three-day visit to
Chechnya and neighboring regions.
"I believe the OSCE can play a wider role."
Vollebaek has expressed willingness to act as a broker between Russia
and the Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov.
"We still have to address the humanitarian situation but we also still
have to urge (Russia) to allow a broad political process," he said.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Nikolai Koshman, accompanying Vollebaek,
denied there had been any rebel ambush overnight in Grozny. "I would
know if it had happened," he told reporters. "There is no information
about it."
CIVILIANS STRUCK REPORT
Groups of civilians who had fled Grozny had harrowing tales of their
journey. Some refugees have accused Russian forces of shooting at
people as they flee. The Russian military deny this.
"This is not a road of life, it's a road of death," said one 73-year-
old woman, walking up the hill with her husband, pulling a small cart
containing a bag of potatoes and some clothes.
Russia has denied the 54-nation OSCE any major political role in
Chechnya, saying its almost three-month military onslaught is aimed at
cracking down on Moslem "bandits and terrorists".
Even so, Vollebaek said the fact that his visit took place was a
success after Russian President Boris Yeltsin reluctantly approved the
mission at an OSCE summit in Istanbul last month.
Vollebaek was due to fly home to Oslo later on Thursday. He also
visited Dagestan, North Ossetia, Ingushetia and the former Soviet
republic of Azerbaijan during his visit.
Vollebaek did not meet Maskhadov during his trip, despite offering to
broker talks with Russia.
In Chechnya, Koshman accompanied Vollebaek to a renovated hospital, a
school and a camp for people seeking safe haven within Russian-
controlled areas of Chechnya.
In the hospital, the walls were wet with new blue paint and the
concrete steps outside crumbled because they were so freshly laid. "We
lack equipment, we lack drugs," said Brilliant Achemedchanova, the
chief doctor of the region.
In one school, children danced and recited poems for Vollebaek - many
of the children were from families who had moved into camps after
fleeing Grozny.
"Life is terrible here," said Khava Tashayeva, 45, living in a
camp. "But it was impossible to live in the city with the bombing
there."
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