RIGHTS GROUP ISSUES FORMAL WARNING.

On August 1, the organization Medecins du Monde [Doctors of the World], which has been working in Chechnya and Ingushetia since March of 1995, issued a formal warning that Chechen civilians could be in acute danger. The organization condemned the Russian Federation’s “multiplying [of] the roundups and serious and systematic violations of human rights” in the republic, adding: “Medecins du Monde is also concerned at the recent pressure on the official Chechen administration to get the refugees to return to Chechnya…. Obviously, following the recent ‘cleansing operations’ in Chechen territory, the refugees are even more reluctant to return. We feel that it is extremely dangerous to put pressure on the refugees to return without the requisite conditions of security and reception.”