REFUGEES IN AZERBAIJAN.

On October 4, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting noted that, pressured by Russia, the government of Azerbaijan was making it increasingly difficult for Chechen refugees to remain in that country. “With Baku’s apparently waning sympathy for the Chechen cause, there have been fears,” IWPR remarked, “for the safety of several thousand refugees from Chechnya sheltering in the country. Many have been complaining of rough treatment by the local police, but Didier Laye, local representative of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said there was no record of serious refugee rights violations…. But with only a fraction of the displaced population claiming official refugee status, the real situation remains unclear.”