13 December 2003 10:06
EU/RUSSIA: MORE HUMANITARIAN AID FOR NORTHERN CAUCASUS.
The European Commission announced on December 11 that it had granted Euro 9.5 million in humanitarian aid to support
victims of the conflict in Chechnya, on top of Euro 16.5 million already allocated this year. The aid is intended to
bolster the EU's ongoing efforts to support the most vulnerable sections of the population and displaced persons in
Chechnya (some 140,000 people) and neighbouring Ingushetia and Dagestan (around 80,000). The Commission said the aid
would go to meeting urgent needs in terms of food, water, shelter, sanitation, health-care and psycho-social support for
some 10,000 young people. Food should be distributed to some 200,000 people in Chechnya, 5,000 in Dagestan, and 1,500
infants in Ingushetia. Seeds and tools will be distributed to 30,000 households in Chechnya and Ingushetia. The
Commission also said that security measures for the protection of relief workers would be stepped up, noting that the
conditions for humanitarian access to Chechnya "remain unpredictable and far from satisfactory". EU aid to the
Northern Caucasus amounts to more than Euro 120 million since 1999.
[CEIW] |
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