22 November 2007, 23:02
United Nations phase out their humanitarian projects in Northern Caucasus
The United Nations are phasing out their humanitarian projects in Northern Caucasus, since they do not consider Chechnya, Ingushetia and other Russian Republics to be a disaster zone any longer. The RIA "Novosti" reports that this fact was stated by Vasily Likhachov, Deputy Chair of the International Committee of the Federation Council of Russian Parliament, after his meeting with John Holmes, UN Deputy General Secretary for Humanitarian Aid.
It was a mutual Russia-UN move towards each other. "Chechnya, Northern Ossetia, Ingushetia, Karachaevo-Circassia need no foreign humanitarian aid any longer, they have become self-sufficient, although not all the problems have been settled yet," Mr Likhachov has noted.
According to his story, the shortage of local budgets for final accommodation of refugees will be compensated from the federal budget.
Starting from 2000, the volume of UN humanitarian projects in Northern Caucasus has exceeded 200 million dollars. Basically, the money went to maintenance of the camps of forced migrants from Chechnya, building houses for them in Ingushetia, and on the programme of their return to Chechnya.
