More U.S. Relief Headed for Victims of Georgia Conflict

18 August 2008

Humanitarian groups find access to South Ossetia restricted

By Domenick DiPasquale
Staff Writer

Washington -- U.S. humanitarian assistance will continue to flow to victims of the conflict between Georgia and Russia, despite concerns that have arisen over access by relief groups to the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

The U.S. relief effort is part of a much larger international push by foreign governments and nongovernmental organizations to assist the estimated 100,000 people displaced by the conflict.  Aid has begun to flow into Georgia from the United Nations and the Baltic states and such countries as the United Kingdom, Norway, Turkey, Poland and Ukraine.   

In his August 16 weekly radio address, President Bush said U.S. military flights have landed recently in Georgia to provide relief supplies and “more will be arriving in the days ahead.”

Bush also called on Russia to honor the six-point cease-fire plan negotiated by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on behalf of the European Union and signed by both Georgia and Russia.  Free access to humanitarian aid is one of the points in the plan.

The U.S. military’s European Command initially dispatched two U.S. Air Force C-17 humanitarian relief flights that landed in Tbilisi August 13 and August 14 with medical supplies.  More emergency U.S. medical aid and shelter items reached Georgia August 15 with the flights of two C-130 cargo planes.

The United States so far has provided more than $3.6 million of emergency humanitarian relief to citizens of Georgia affected by the fighting, according to U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Henrietta Fore.

“We also have been preparing further assistance for the people of Georgia as further needs are identified in the days and weeks to come,” Fore said at an August 15 press briefing.

“We are prepared to help with more than emergency needs,” Fore continued.  “We are looking ahead to longer-term reconstruction and development programs that will help the people of Georgia recover, rebuild and thrive in the aftermath of this conflict.”

A 12-person USAID Disaster Assistance Relief Team, or DART, began arriving in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi on August 15 to conduct an assessment of humanitarian needs that will help coordinate U.S. efforts with those of Georgian authorities and nongovernmental organization (NGO) donors.

The $3.6 million of U.S. relief assistance includes a $1 million grant to the U.N. World Food Program for local and regional procurement of more than 650 tons of emergency food commodities.  Distribution of these foodstuffs began August 15 in the city of Gori, site of some of the heaviest fighting.

Fore said USAID has received reports that its NGO partners in the relief effort have been unable to get assistance into the breakaway region of South Ossetia, which is now under Russian control, but that part of the DART team’s mission is to determine how to move aid into that region.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) likewise has said the present situation on the ground does not allow it access to South Ossetia, but that its teams are ready to go pending the necessary security guarantees.

The ICRC said it was seeking clarification from Russia after ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger was refused entry to South Ossetia, where he had planned to lead a humanitarian mission August 18 to bring in relief supplies and assess the situation. 

The European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, also has expressed concern about access to the conflict zone.

“The cessation of hostilities announced by Moscow has not yet reflected particularly into any improvement in terms of access for humanitarian aid workers,” said commission spokesman John Clancy in Brussels, Belgium.