Vladikavkaz/Agency Caucasus – A happy, hopeful portrayal of Ingushes came from the North Ossetian administration, though it was accused of treating Ingushes as second-class citizens and turning a blind eye to their demands.
North Ossetian National Affairs Ministry issued a statement that 500mn rubles would be available in aid to Ingush refugees who were forced to live in the town of Novii over the past 15 years after the Russian federal government forced them out of Prigorodni and never allowed them the right to return home.
Some ministry officials said that a significant proportion of the funding would go to construction work of four large apartments where Ingush families would be accommodated. A total of 129mn rubles will be distributed in aid to the refugees. The ministry officials said that over 29,000 Ingushes have benefited from the government aids in the past 15 years since the conflict between Ossetians and Ingushes first arose. Again, the ministry officials said that along with a network of electric and water suppliance, roads were constructed in the town of Novii.
Grigori Rapot, Special Representative of the South Federal Regions (North Ossetia), was so impressed with works under way in Novii that he said the conflict between Ossetians and Ingushes was almost gone.
Entirely conflicting impressions
Ruslan Albakov-Miarshi, President of the Ingush Republic’s Center for History & Culture, and Ramazan Ugurchiyev, President of the Students’ Association of Ingushetia, were in November in the town of Mayski. They had an entirely different impression of the conditions the refugees had been in: "The needy refugees have only hovels to live in. It would have been difficult to think that such a thing existed in the 21th century if we had not seen it ourselves. We only spent 20 minutes in the hovels and my feet were extremely cold, and the winter has just begun. They sleep on mattresses laid directly down on the ground. I fear that they will soon show signs of serious illness. Plus, the federal administration tends to ignore demands for restitution of the rights that were taken away from them in the war of 1992. That is, the administration does nothing to help them return home and have their possessions back."
Similar remarks came from Aslambek Apayev, member of the Moscow Helsinki Group, in November when he saw the situation of Ingush refugees both in Mayski and Novii: "The people here are fighting a battle of life and death. Some of them have had to live either out on the street or in wagons." The refugees were stripped off their rights to have electric and other sources of energy suppliance, added Apayev: "The refugees were even forced to leave Mayski and live in Novii, in all the same conditions, however." ÖZ/FT
