From Roswitha Jarman,
who has been amongst Chechen people many times.
The Chechen people of the North Caucasus suffered terribly from the first Russian bombardments of December 1994 to August 1996. Family and social bonds were deeply damaged and the beautiful Chechen capital of Grozny was devastated. Today again Chechens in Winter cold and damp track along muddy roads clutching children and bundles of possessions. Again they squat in fear at closed borders not knowing when the Russian forces will shell them.
Since August 1996 small steps had been taken to rebuild their lives in the wretched economic and social situations. Some Chechens, mainly men, felt unable to cope. Retaining automatic weapons they became kidnappers or followed extreme Islamic leaders as a means of survival.
Chechens, remote from Brussels and Strasbourg, even more remote from the USA, feel abandoned by the world community.
After the first war, Chechens asked why did you in the West continue to give IMF loans to Russia? Why did you continue to support Yeltsin? Why did you not speak out for us? What games are you playing that are more important to you than the existence of our small nation?
The Chechens I know are wonderful people, with a rich culture and tradition. However some other Chechens are thrown into desperate ways of behaving including kidnapping and brigandage.
There are now more than 200,000 displaced people in the regions around Chechnya adding to the tens of thousands of unemployed Ingush living in makeshift accommodation since the war between the Ingush and the Russian/ North Ossetian forces in 1992 over the disputed Prigorodny district, which like the hurt of the Chechens arose from the deportations of the entire Ingush and Chechens populations ordered by Stalin in 1944.
What will happen to the children and young people that grow up in such tragic circumstances? What alternatives will they be given other than to commit crime and violence or to become dependent on drugs?
This letter is a plea to the world community. Chechens and Ingush are our brothers and sisters, they belong to our human family, they have much good to contribute. Let us care for them and do all we can to persuade the Russian government to stop this cruel violence.
Roswitha Jarman, currently Friend in Residence at the Quaker Study Centre at Wallingford, Pennsylvania, November 2, 1999.
Email messages can be sent with ‘for the Jarmans’ in the subject line to dean@pendlehill.org
