AGENCIES MOBILISE FOR GEORGIA RELIEF AS FOREIGNERS FLY HOME
Gulf Times
13 August, 2008, 01:28 AM
Qatar
Airport employees load aid supplies for Georgia into an aircraft at
Cointrin airport in Geneva. The International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) is sending 15 tonnes of medicines and medical supplies
to Georgia as well as water treatment plants and distribution tanks
capable of holding safe drinking water for 20,000 people PARIS: Aid
agencies mobilised yesterday to help an estimated 100,000 Georgians
displaced by the fighting, as foreigners evacuated from the country
flew into Paris with tales of the devastation.
A first flight from the UN’s refugee agency landed in Tbilisi airport
yesterday carrying tents, jerry cans, blankets and kitchen equipment,
UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond told reporters in Geneva.
A second was due to fly out from Copenhagen today, he added.
Combined, that meant an extra 70 tonnes of supplies for up to
30,000 people, to supplement material already distributed from UNHCR
warehouses in Georgia.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said a plane
with 15 tonnes of medical supplies and material to support water
distribution was due to arrive in Tbilisi.
ICRC spokeswoman Anna Nelson said they had also been asked to help
about 1,500 people in the breakaway region of Abkhazia, western
Georgia.
The UN World Food Programme in Tbilisi said they had distributed
food to 2,000 displaced people, but said the numbers arriving in the
Georgian capital were rising.
In all, nearly 100,000 people had been forced to flee their homes
because of the conflict, according to the UNHCR.
The figures, supplied by Georgia and Russia, suggested that some 30,000
South Ossetians had moved into North Ossetia, where the UNCHR said it
was ready to help the Russian authorities. Another 12,000 displaced
were inside South Ossetia itself.
A few thousand had moved south from South Ossetia into Georgia proper,
while 56,000 people from the Gori region in Georgia – 80% of the local
population – had also fled the fighting, most heading towards Tbilisi.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres meanwhile approved
the release of $2mn (1.3mn euros) in emergency aid.
On Monday, Washington made $250,000 available to Georgia for emergency
relief. The European Union announced $1.5mn in aid to civilians
on Sunday.
In Paris meanwhile some 170 French tourists and 91 other foreign
nationals evacuated from Georgia touched down at Charles De Gaulle
airport, speaking of a climate of "fear" in the capital Tbilisi.
"The atmosphere in Tbilisi is very heavy. People feel alone, they
are afraid," said Alain Noel, 39, dark lines under his eyes, who was
evacuated with his nine-month old baby.
"In Gori I saw people fleeing, I saw holes from the bombing," said
24-year-old law student Nicolas Papiashvili, a French citizen born
in Georgia.
They were flown in on a French Airbus A340 that had left for Georgia
on Monday carrying humanitarian supplies. It was due to fly back to
Georgia with a second shipment of aid and medicines.
The UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
called for two humanitarian corridors to be opened to allow civilians
caught in the fighting to flee, and for aid workers to reach the
wounded.
The appeal was echoed by the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) and the ICRC.
Although Georgia and Russia said over the weekend they would open
humanitarian corridors, OCHA spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said these
had not materialised.
The US evacuated 170 of its nationals on Monday in two convoys into
neighbouring Armenia.
Armenia’s foreign ministry said it had received some 2,000 foreign
nationals. On top of that, 7,500 Armenians had also been evacuated
since the start of the conflict, the ministry said.
Two Polish government aircraft evacuated around 175 Poles and other
nationals from war-torn Georgia on Monday, Warsaw said, and a third
aircraft was due to be sent to bring home 90 more evacuees. – AFP