UN aid arrives to help refugees of war

THE United Nations refugee agency’s first airlift has arrived in Georgia.

This comes amid reports that 100,000 people have been uprooted by the fighting in South Ossetia.

A UNHCR-chartered cargo plane landed in Tbilisi yesterday carrying tents, jerry cans, blankets and kitchens sets from the agency’s emergency stockpile in Dubai. It was the first UN humanitarian flight to reach Georgia since fighting broke out last week.

A second flight is set to leave today from the agency’s central logistics hub in Copenhagen. Together, the two flights will provide more than 70 tonnes of aid supplies for up to 30,000 people.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres gave the green light on Monday to release €1.3 million from the agency’s emergency reserve to cover additional needs such as extra staff deployment and to bolster its aid stockpiles in the Caucasus region. He reiterated his call for humanitarian access and safe passage, and offered relief assistance to both Russia and Georgia.

Government sources suggest that 100,000 people have been uprooted by the ongoing conflict with 12,000 displaced within South Ossetia, say local authorities. Russian officials in North Ossetia indicate that there are some 30,000 people from South Ossetia now in the Russian Federation. Georgian authorities report that several thousand people have fled from South Ossetia into Georgia proper.

There are also reports of population movements within Georgia. In Gori, just south of South Ossetia, local officials told a visiting UNHCR team on Sunday that up to 80% of the population — some 56,000 people — had left. They said most had gone towards Tbilisi but would return once the threat eased.