ASF Archive Documents APPEAL OF THE CHECHEN INTELLIGENTSIA Appeal for restoration of war-raveged Grozny. On February 20, 2000, a discussion on ⌠The Moral Crisis of the Chechen People and Possible Ways of Overcoming It■ took place in Nazran, Ingushetia. The discussion was organized by the Center for Chechen Culture ⌠LAM■ [Mountain]. The refugees from Grozny who participated in the meeting adopted the following appeal addressed to: The Government of the Russian Federation The United Nations The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe The International Monetary Fund, The World Bank The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development The European Union The Council of Europe The United States, Japan, and other donor countries Nazran, February 20, 2000 .

But even now, after the storm of Grozny has been completed, they are continuing the barbaric destruction of our city, justifying this by their concern for the safety of civilians.

Almost every day, multistoried buildings are blown up and leveled on the pretext that they cannot be restored and are a safety hazard. This is done without any preliminary inspection and without the decision of a competent commission.

Before September 1999, two thirds of Chechnya▓s population lived in Grozny. The former inhabitants of Grozny are now living in inhuman conditions in tents and other temporary shelters in Ingushetia and Chechnya. They can and they will return only to Grozny. They have nowhere else to go.

We demand:

• an immediate halt to the further destruction of Grozny
• the creation of a special commission to inspect the condition of the remaining buildings
• faster de-mining of Grozny▓s streets and rendering harmless unexploded ordnance
• free access to Grozny for civilian residents of the city
• assistance for the quickest possible reconstruction of apartment buildings, homes, and utilities.

We believe that the reconstruction of Grozny is the moral duty of democratic Russia and the whole civilized world.

Musa Akhmadov

Member of the USSR Writers Union, senior lecturer at the University of Chechnya

Said-Magomed Dibiev

Professor of the Grozny Oil Institute

Ovta Salamov, Professor of the University of Chechnya

Abdullah Arsunkaev

Director, Institute for Educational Problems of the Grozny Oil Institute

Ruslan Goitemirov

Rector of the Chechen affiliate of Moscow▓s University of the Humanities

Deni Sumbulatov

Editor of the newspaper Daimokhk

Said-Emin Elmirsaev

Member of the USSR Union of Artists

Kyuri Idrisov

Psychiatrist, member of ⌠Doctors of the World⌠

Abdullah Saidov

Engineer

Zuleikhan Bagalova

Actress, Executive Director of LAM

Lecha Ilyasov,

Ph.D, Philologist

Taus Serganova

Ph.D, Philologist