In Ingushetia 22 Chechen refugees, the majority of whom lives in the Sputnik and MTF (Molochno-Tovarnaya Ferma) tent camps, are conducting a hunger strike with the following demands:
- to begin negotiations between Presidents Putin and Maskhadov for the peaceful conclusion of the armed conflict.
- stop the "clean-up" operations and unlawful detainment of innocent citizens.
- end the war in Chechnya.
Makhmud Abdulshaidov, 46 years old and leader of the strike, has already gone hungry 25 days. On June 14th he was joined by a group of other settlers. In the following days even more newcomers joined the hunger strike. Unfortunately among those starving is a child - a twelve year old girl who is going hungry along with her mother.
The strikers have pitched their tents in a field between the Satsita and Sputnik camps. Doctors from the organizations Doctors of the World, Doctors Without Borders (France), and the Russian Committee of the Red Cross periodically check in on the strikers.
On June 20th the hunger strikers were visited by representatives of the Safety Council of the Russian Federation and the Special Representative for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms in Chechnya V. A. Kalamanov.
21.06.2001 ã.
