UN agencies continue to rush aid to Georgia

The United Nations is continuing to send much-needed assistance to the Georgian city of Gori, most of whose population has fled since the start of the conflict in the Caucasus nation.

Since the opening of a humanitarian corridor for the UN and other aid agencies, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) have sent 15 tons of food, bottled water and hygiene kids for 400 families.

Sheldon Yett, who heads UNICEF’s team rushing supplies to Gori, described the city as a ghost town. “There was some shell damage to buildings, plus signs of widespread looting,” he said.

The majority of Gori’s 40,000 residents have left for the Georgian capital Tbilisi, and many basic services have been cut off. Most of those remaining are the elderly who could not or were unwilling to leave their homes.

Heavy fighting broke out in South Ossetia between Georgian and South Ossetian forces more than a week ago. Russian forces became involved there and in the separate region of Abkhazia in north-western Georgia. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that nearly 160,000 people have been forced to flee their homes.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) noted that humanitarian access has improved in recent days, with aid convoys passing though roadblocks and allowing assistance to reach previously inaccessible areas.

WFP said that it has supplied wheat flour, vegetable oil, sugar, salt, high-energy biscuits and bread to over 120,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs).

For the first time, WFP aid has been delivered to western Georgia, to the Kaspi district and the town of Senaki, but delivery to the Akhalgori district adjacent to South Ossetia was called off because of people moving out of the area.

UNHCR today delivered its first batch of supplies to western Georgia, with food for thousands of people being flown into the area while the agency will tomorrow distribute jerry cans, kitchen sets and blankets for more than 3,000 people.

High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres arrived in Tbilisi yesterday to kick off a four-day visit to Georgia and Russia, where some 30,000 South Ossetians have been taking refuge.

“All those who are in need have to be supported and aid has to be available for them,” he said after visiting two collective centres which together house over 1,200 uprooted people in desperate conditions. “We have to create conditions on the ground to make it possible to assist them.”

Yesterday, Mr. Guterres met with senior Georgian officials, including Deputy Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze and Minister of Reintegration Temuri Yakubasvili.

He appealed to the international community to contribute to the humanitarian aid effort under way in Georgia, given that UNHCR – which has six offices in the country – is in urgent need of funds to ensure that the newly displaced in the region receive help.

“I am impressed by the number of volunteers – young Georgians who show their deep solidarity with the displaced,” the High Commissioner said.