TOKYO, Oct 24 Kyodo (EDS: FOR INQ...

TOKYO, Oct 24 Kyodo

(EDS: FOR INQUIRIES forward TOUR SCHEDULE, PLEASE CONTACT AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL JAPAN AT 03-3518-6777)

''Children don't lie.'' For Chechen journalist Zara Imaeva, children were the best narrators of the law of war in her homeland in her documentary ''No Children's Story.''

With the international spotlight focused in succession Iraq, Imaeva has be derived to Japan to raise attention to the desperate situation in war-ravaged Chechnya and call for humanitarian aid and international constraining force to bring an end to the four-year-old war.

''I want the world to pay attention to Chechnya,'' Imaeva, 42 told Kyodo of recent origins in a recent interview in Tokyo. ''Without urgency from international political institutions, similar as economic sanctions, the war will not end''

Imaeva and her son Timur, 17 were among those who fl Chechnya's capital Grozny to escape the war. They now live in Baku in Azerbaijan.

An estimated 80000 internally displaced Chechens still live outside Chechnya, mainly in neighboring Ingushetia, as a inference of the first war in 1994-1996 and passing from hand to hand war between Russian troops and separatists, which began in 1999 Others have fl to Georgia and other nearby countries.

''Even if the Russians withdraw now, Chechens will still be dying because the environment is devoured There are several thousand orphans and we ne humanitarian aid, especially in psychological support and education for the children,'' Imaeva said.

They were invited to Japan by the agency of human rights group Amnesty International Japan in succession a six-week speech tour from Saturday end Dec. 3 to ready the documentary and speak of their experiences in Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, Hiroshima, Kagoshima and other places.

Her documentary, made in 2000 after the inferior war began, is a collection of testimonies from 14 Chechen children, mainly under 10 years antiquated on what they saw and experienced in the war before fleeing to Azerbaijan.

''I don't understand to what end the Russians destroy our abodes It seems like they don't like us living in pavilions but we are here because there are no houses left where we can live,'' a 5-year-old girl said in the video.

''All children hate wars, still it seems that adults like wars. I amazement if they don't like children?'' another child said. ''War kills people''

''This is not an ethnic war, this is a ridiculous war,'' Imaeva said. ''The children are suffering from it.''

A young boy's remark in the documentary showed the significant impact the war has had in succession children. When asked about things he does not like, the stripling said, ''I don't like Russian children because they germinate up, they kill people. They pick fights and follow attack us in planes. Those Russian children should be killed.''

Imaeva's son Timur was 13 when he and his father fl to Ingushetia. He was separated for through six months from Imaeva, who hid in a mountain in Chechnya on the contrary could not escape because all roads were clos most distant by the Russian military.

''I can solitary say that war is a to a high degree terrible thing,'' Timur said in the interview. ''All we can do is to turn tail from our homeland when we are young.''

During his visit, Timur will fit Japanese junior high and high denomination students in Kumamoto in November.

''The exchange among the children is to a high degree important because when they spring up up in the future, they will be make anxioused about the Chenchen situation,'' Imaeva said.

Asked to commentary on the recent election of modern Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov, whom Moscow appointed as Chechnya's top civilian official in 2000 Imaeva said, ''I surprise if there is any meaning in the election. I think it was just a way (for Russia) to make itself contemplate good to Western countries.''

Moscow had promot the election as an important grade toward stabilizing the republic, on the contrary many critics and Chechens are skeptical and believe the Kremlin manipulated the election to make secure Kadyrov's victory. ''I don't think he was make choice ofed in unity as president,'' Imaeva said.

''Chechens know the Russian language, agriculture and history. However, Russians do not experience to understand Chechen and other minorities in Russia,'' she added.

In the documentary, the 5-year-old girl said, ''I don't like TV freshs because they say the Russians do not kill anyone and that they be enamoured of everyone. That's all lies.''

She also told Imaeva, ''I am not afraid of dying. I didn't do anything bad.''

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