FIRST UN AIRLIFT ARRIVES IN GEORGIA AS NUMBER OF DISPLACED RISES

FIRST UN AIRLIFT ARRIVES IN GEORGIA AS NUMBER OF DISPLACED RISES New York, Aug 12 2008 10:10AM The first United Nations flight carrying humanitarian aid for civilians affected by the South Ossetia conflict arrived in Georgia today, as the UN refugee agency said that the number of people uprooted by the fighting is nearing 100,000.

The Boeing 707 cargo plane, chartered by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is the first UN humanitarian flight to reach the country since heavy fighting erupted last Thursday between Georgian and South Ossetian forces, leading to a large number of casualties and the displacement of thousands. Russian forces have since become involved in South Ossetia, and in Abkhazia in the northwest.

The flight brought 34 tonnes of tents, jerry cans, blankets and kitchen sets from UNHCR's central emergency stockpile in Dubai. A second UNHCR flight is scheduled tomorrow from Copenhagen, another of its central logistical hubs.

"The two flights will provide more than 70 tonnes of aid supplies for up to 30,000 people and will augment other relief items already distributed by UNHCR from its warehouses in Georgia," the agency's spokesperson, Ron Redmond <"http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/48a17ec64.html">told reporters in Geneva.

According to the latest figures provided by Georgia and Russia, the total number of people uprooted in the conflict is approaching 100,000, UNHCR said. Officials in North Ossetia, Russia, say some 30,000 people from South Ossetia have fled to that Russia region.

Georgian officials say a few thousand have fled into other parts of Georgia from South Ossetia, but a registration must be carried out to get an exact figure. Up to 12,000 are estimated by officials to be displaced within South Ossetia.

There are also movements elsewhere in Georgia, including from the town of Gori – just south of the boundary with South Ossetia. A UNHCR team which travelled to Gori on Sunday was told by local government officials that up to 80 per cent of the population had left, fearing further attacks – that would amount to some 56,000 people from Gori on the move.

Over the weekend, UNHCR and its partners provided aid supplies to some 300 vulnerable Georgians from South Ossetia who had been transferred from Gori to the capital, Tbilisi.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has also begun providing critical humanitarian aid to more than 2,000 people displaced by the violence in South Ossetia, including a 10-day food ration to internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in shelters in Tbilisi.

Yesterday senior UN peacekeeping official Edmond Mulet told the Security Council that Russian forces have now entered Georgian areas outside the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as the 15-member body met for the fifth time since Friday morning to discuss the latest developments.
2008-08-12 00:00:00.000

________________

For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news

To change your profile or unsubscribe go to:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/email/