Human Rights Commissioner Returns

Marked by delays and frustration, and denied access to some areas, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, returned to Moscow from Chechnya Monday, to quiz Russian officials about reports of human rights abuses in Chechnya and in refugee camps in neighboring republics.

However, Russia's human rights envoy to Chechnya, Vladimir Kalamanov, told reporters at Vnukovo that everything had been done to give Robinson access to people, but that bad weather and security concerns had prevented them going to some places.

Robinson told reporters at Moscow's Vnukovo airport: "I'm concerned about the extent of first-hand accounts of serious allegations of violations of human rights."

Meanwhile, thousands of Chechens queued up at Ingushetia's border on Monday, desperate to leave crowded refugee camps in this impoverished region and return home.

"I simply want to return home, I don't want this porridge, this humanitarian aid, I don't need anything, I don't need light or gas, I just want to go home," said Tamara Kamayeva, 61, adding that she had left Chechnya's devastated capital Grozny in late September when Russian bombs started falling.

"If they can't guarantee our security, give us weapons and we will defend ourselves," she said, explaining that in Grozny she may be able to find potatoes and chicken -- luxuries which she has dreamed about for months.

Many in the queues of buses, mini vans and cars, stocked high with blankets, mattresses and sometimes even livestock, were headed for Grozny. Some have been stuck at the border for days, with almost 2,000 Chechens leaving Ingushetia every day.

Robinson was to meet top officials in Moscow and said she hoped to talk to President-elect Vladimir Putin, although the Kremlin was tight-lipped on whether this would take place.

Putin oversaw the start of the military campaign six months ago after Chechen rebels invaded villages in neighboring Dagestan - acts which Robinson also condemned for involving rights abuses.

A human rights group in Paris called on the United Nations Monday to set up an international court to try those responsible for alleged atrocities in Chechnya.

In a report released after a fact-finding mission to Russia, the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues denounced indiscriminate bombing, arbitrary arrests, torture,looting and summary executions.

It said former Russian President Boris Yeltsin and his successor, Vladimir Putin, must be held responsible for war crimes - urging the U.N. Security Council "to adopt a resolution setting up an ad hoc international court."

Russian forces were fighting to root out rebel resistance in the separatist region after dozens of paramilitary OMON police and troops were killed in an ambush last week, a sharp reminder that Moscow was still far from winning the war.