100 000 displaced in Ossetia
2008-08-12 14:34
Geneva - The number of people displaced by the South Ossetia conflict has reached 100 000, the United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday, as UN agencies urged authorities to open up humanitarian corridors.
The UNHCR said numbers supplied by the Georgian and Russian governments indicated that some 30 000 South Ossetians had moved into North Ossetia and that up to 12 000 displaced were within South Ossetia itself.
A few thousand have fled south from South Ossetia into Georgia proper, while 56 000 people from the Gori region in Georgia have also been displaced, said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, quoting figures from Georgian officials.
The UN Office for the Coordination 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.
"OCHA is extremely concerned by the escalation and the violence. The situation is deteriorating on the ground amidst a significant movement of population," she OCHA spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs.
"That's why OCHA is asking all parties... to give humanitarian organisations access to people who are wounded, to people who need aid."
A similar appeal was made by the UN Children's Fund (Unicef) and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Both Georgia and Russia said over the weekend they would open humanitarian corridors, but Byrs said these have not materialised.
"Both sides blame each other for continuing hostilities in South Ossetia preventing people from leaving the region," she said.
Meanwhile, she added, an Ukrainian cargo plane carrying humanitarian aid failed to fly to Georgia as Turkey on Monday closed its airways going there.
In another development, Bulgaria said on Tuesday it will propose making its Black Sea port of Burgas a "coordinating port" for humanitarian aid when EU foreign ministers meet Wednesday in Brussels.
It is also considering sending medicines to Georgia, following a demand from Tbilisi's embassy in Sofia, a foreign ministry official said.
- SAPA