In Grozny, the news of their departure exited a certain amount of jealousy, and the sums of money required by the Russian Federal Authorities for an International Passport sharply increased. Though all remained uncertain until the very last moment, Etudes sans Frontières considers the arrival of the 8 students highly rewarding considering that the organisation's commitment to the cause does not meet with much sympathy from European Institutions.

In Grozny, people told us: "Europe has abandoned us, but these French, they take our children out of the country to allow them to study".

Other than the 8 students, 10 more are now political refugees in France, and are being helped by the ONG since March. For them, learning the French language was a priority, and, after 6 months of efforts and courses, they have achieved a level that will allow them to undertake a higher course of studies. The 8 students freshly arrived from Grozny command a sufficient knowledge of French to be able to progress in the chosen courses: Literature, Law, Management, and Political Sciences. "We hope that this first mission will open the way to other students from Tchetchenia and from elsewhere. We also bare in mind Zimbabwe and Laos. Rwanda in an other country we are interested in, and towards which France is not fulfilling its duties." declared the president of Etudes sans Frontières, Jean-Christophe Nothias.

The presidents of the Universities of Paris I, Paris IV, Paris VIII, Paris X, as well as the direction of the Institut des Etudes Politiques de Paris have taken up the challenge, and, on Monday, will admit these young survivors of the Caucasian nightmare. Lodged at the City Universitaire Internationale, they will now discover a country that until yesterday must have seemed so far away and so indifferent. Of the 5000 students enrolled before the war, only a few hundred still continue to attend what remains of the Grozny campus.

The members of the Committee d'Honneur, and the founders of the ONG, wish to extend their warm thanks to: Kaifa Dzeitova, our Tchetchenian friend, Professor of French and ONG representative in Grozny, Gueny Djeirkhanov, Alexandre Meyer, Dominique de Villepin, the Fnac, the LMDE, la CCIP, the Mairie de Paris, the Consulat Général de France à Moscou, Air France, the Cité Internationale Universitaire, the presidents of the universities that are accepting the students, the director of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, and the Mayors who have contributed to the positive conclusion of this first mission. It is now necessary to reinforce and assure the financial basis (*) of the ONG for the 2003/2004 season.