Last refugees leave Satsita camp

On June 10, representatives of the Russian Federal Migration Service and the Ingush Migration Department officially certified the closure of the Satsita camp, the last of the six largest tent camps for Chechen refugees on the territory of Ingushetia. The last three families left this tent camp, situated on the outskirts of the Ordzhonikidzevskaya village, that day.

"The majority of the camp inhabitants have returned to Chechnya, where they will get compensations for lost housing and all benefits promised by the authorities. Those displaced persons who don't want to return home have been settled here, in the places of compact residence," Deputy Prime Minister of the Ingush Government for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Magomed Markhiyev said. "Nevertheless, the work of republican migration structures is not over yet. More than 37 thousand Chechen refugees still stay in Ingushetia. They live in private houses or different places of compact residence."

Deputy Head of the Russian Federal Migration Service Igor Yunash, who attended the closure of the camp, said that no temporary accommodation centers consisting of tents remained in Ingushetia from that moment on. In spite of it, Chechen non-governmental organizations engaged in IDPs' problems report on approximately 1,000 people still living in canvas tents on the territory of different places of compact residence.

"These tents are not so striking as the camps in the open field, it is the likely reason why the authorities don't take them into consideration," Chairwoman of the Council of Chechen Non-governmental Organizations said.

Editors note: See also the article "Officially closed refugee camp still functions".