UN Refugee Head Arrives In Chechnya

A Chechen refugee camp in Ingushetia (file photo) (AFP) April 10, 2006 -- The head of the United Nations refugee agency arrived today in the Chechen capital Grozny to assess the situation faced by people displaced by the ongoing armed conflict.

Antonio Guterres, the UN's High Commissioner for Refugees, is on a six-day visit to Russia that will take him to several republics in the Caucasus.

Chechen President Alu Alkhanov told Guterres in talks on April 10 that 9,000 displaced people are expected to return to the republic this year.

In 2004, the Russian Federal Migration Service said there were 210,000 internally displaced persons in Chechnya. Tens of thousands more are believed to be living in neighboring republics or seeking asylum in the West.

(AFP)