EU stuurt observatiemissie naar de Kaukasus (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The first ever EU mission to Chechnya and its North Caucasus neighbours will take place next week. It is the first time Russia has accepted a European Commission fact-finding mission to the area.

"It is an evaluation mission to examine what we might be able to do to support social and economic reconstruction in the region", said a Commission spokesperson.

According to a Commission source, the one-week fact-finding mission aims at addressing the root causes of the conflicts in Chechnya, the North Ossetian and Ingushetian republics, with a view to produce long-term strategies for the region's economic and social recovery.

The visiting delegation will be composed of Commission officials from Brussels and from the Commission's Moscow office.

Meanwhile, the European Commission announced on Thursday (7 April) it will send a 22.5 million euro in humanitarian aid package to assist 345,000 "internally displaced persons" and "vulnerable groups" in central and southern Chechnya as well as in Ingushetia and Dagestan.

Since the resumption of the conflict in autumn 1999, the EU's Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO) has allocated 148 million euro to support victims of the conflict, making the EU the largest donor in the region.

According to the Commission press release, "the delivery of aid will depend (...) on access and security conditions". All humanitarian aid organisations are currently working on a roving basis in Chechnya, without a permanent expatriate presence on the ground.

Chechen separatists have been at odds with Russian authorities since the 18th Century -the latest war been waged since 1999. A referendum was held in Chechnya in March 2003 on a proposal to affirm its status as a republic within the Russian Federation, with an overwhelming majority voting in favour, but Chechen rebels claimed the vote was rigged and refused to lay down their weapons.