IRC Chief Says Working in Chechnya Getting Easier

UNCLAS MOSCOW 000389

DEPARTMENT FOR PRM/ECA

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREF PGOV PHUM RS
SUBJECT: IRC Chief Says Working in Chechnya Getting Easier


1. (SBU) Summary: The International Rescue Committee (IRC)'s Russia
Country Director spoke with Moscow diplomats February 11 about his
work in the North Caucasus, some of it funded by State/PRM, and
about the difficulty of functioning amid instability and corruption.
Despite the obstacles, IRC's ability to operate in Chechnya has
improved, while competing political forces in Dagestan present a
challenge. Humanitarian NGOs working in the region accept that
violence is an operational hazard. IRC has begun to contemplate its
exit from the region with an eye to sustainability. End Summary.
Roundtable Gathers Embassies and NGO Implementer
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2. (U) Representatives of ECHO and of the French, Dutch, Danish, and
Swedish Embassies met at Refcoord's invitation February 11 to hear
from Thomas Hill, IRC's Grozniy-based country director who was in
Moscow for consultations with donors. Hill, an American citizen and
former Peace Corps volunteer, has worked in Russia for six years,
the last year and a half for IRC in the North Caucasus. In 2008 IRC
moved its headquarters from Nazran, Ingushetia, to Grozniy,
Chechnya. In part this is because the organization is presently
seeking to focus its efforts on Chechnya and Dagestan, Hill
explained. But trends in communal violence are such that he also
now feels safer in Chechnya than in Ingushetia. While he
acknowledged that security at IRC's group home in Grozniy is
imperfect, Hill quipped that he sleeps comfortably there, whereas to
spend the night in Nazran he would want no less than a fortress.

3. (U) IRC is one of three FY09 PRM NGO partners operating in
Russia. Active in 42 countries worldwide, it focuses in the North
Caucasus on livelihood projects; water and sanitation; large-scale
economic projects, such as the development of partnerships between
agricultural cooperatives and small businesses; and grassroots
empowerment through community mobilization. Hill believes that of
these, the last is the most important because it will produce the
greatest long-term results. This is particularly pertinent because
the GOR will likely ask foreign NGOs to leave the region as the 2014
Sochi Olympics approach, Hill predicted.
Operating in the North Caucasus No Cakewalk
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4. (SBU) The Ingush republican government created numerous problems
for Hill, who last year successfully took the local Federal
Migration Service to court after it attempted to deport an IRC
contract employee. The combination of government-sponsored violence,
criminal violence, and rebel violence, along with ethnic
animosities, creates a chaotic situation. Violence will continue to
hinder the efforts of human rights activists. Referring to
Ingushetia.ru editor Magomed Yevloyev's August 2008 murder, Hill
said that it was "horrible, but expected. . .it is a part of the
work we are doing."

5. (SBU) Hill finds operating in Chechnya much easier than in
Ingushetia, although IRC must pay the republican government for
required extra security. After a prolonged period in late 2007 and
early 2008 of denials of access to expatriate staff, Chechnya now
grants entry relatively readily. Hill assiduously cultivates
contacts in all agencies and levels of the government, having
discovered that even ministries tasked with coordinating liaison
jealously guard his reports to them. Having "nothing to hide" in
IRC's activities, Hill even meets regularly with the FSB. He made a
point of inviting that agency's officials to inspect IRC's new
Grozniy headquarters "to evaluate security" before the organization
moved in.

6. (SBU) The situation in Dagestan is different from that in
Chechnya and Ingushetia, according to Hill. He described the
republic as being like the American Wild West: "everyone carries a
gun and would kill you for your bicycle." Hill believes the
instability there is tied more to criminality than politics -
radical Islam is a comparatively minor factor in Dagestan. The
republican government is wary of outside contacts, but the local
government is receptive to proposed IRC assistance. Hill shared a
story of IRC offering to help the Khasavyurt government recover from
a locust infestation in summer 2008. While local officials, who
grimly displayed formaldehyde-preserved locusts in their offices,
welcomed the offer, republican officials refused to sign off. There
were no locusts in Dagestan, insisted the administration in
Makhachkala.

7. (SBU) Though IRC will continue to apply for grants to fund North
Caucasus programs for another year or two, Hill said he is already
advising his U.S. headquarters on an exit strategy. He hopes to
leave behind a for-profit business, which he believes is more
sustainable than a spun-off domestic NGO. Ideally, a successful
business or businesses would eventually use their profits for civil
society and local development. Hill reiterated the importance of
empowering communities by giving them the tools they need to solve
their own problems, instead of solely giving aid.
Comment
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8. (SBU) The assembled diplomats mostly represented donors who have
already or will soon pull out of the North Caucasus. Under the
circumstances, Hill's emphasis on teaching communities to do for
themselves seems essential to beneficiaries' survival.
BEYRLE