Danish Aid Group Resumes Work In Chechnya

A Chechen refugee in a camp in Ingushetia (file photo) (AFP) March 7, 2006 -- A Danish aid group that provides food to tens of thousands of people in Chechnya has resumed operations after a nearly month-long suspension in its activities.

The Danish Refugee Council's director for Russia, Per Ilsaas, said the group was restarting operations as of today.

The Danish Refugee Council suspended operations in early February after Ramzan Kadyrov, then the acting prime minister of Chechnya's Kremlin-backed government, said Danish aid groups would no longer be allowed to operate in Chechnya because of a controversial set of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad printed in a Danish newspaper.

Federal and other Chechen officials, however, expressed doubts whether the ban was legal and Kadyrov later retracted his decision.

The Danish Refugee Council is one of the biggest foreign aid organizations in the North Caucasus.

(Interfax, AP)