Русская версияThe UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, released
$2 million to cover the needs of those displaced by the fighting in
Russia and Georgia.
UN personnel were being deployed to the areas
as well.
The UN Security Council in New York planned yet another round of
discussions later on Monday on the war in Georgia, and was to be
updated on the ground situation by UN peacekeeping officials.
"Our main concern as the UN refugee agency is with the safety of
the civilians, both displaced and non-displaced, and with
humanitarian access with the possibility for us to help those in
distress, especially the uprooted," Guterres said from his Geneva
office.
"We have mobilized our financial resources and our humanitarian
resources," he said. "Airlifts are starting with relief items to be
able to help people. But we need to be able to get to them."
Tens of thousands in need of help
UNHCR said the first flight carrying 20,000 blankets and other aid
items was scheduled to leave late Monday from Dubai, where the
agency has a warehouse of relief supplies. A second flight will
leave Copenhagen on Wednesday for the Caucasus.
The two flights will carry enough relief supplies for at least
30,000 people reported to have fled South Ossetia. Many of them
crossed into Russia since the fighting erupted last Thursday.
UNHCR has been providing humanitarian assistance to 275,000 people
in Georgia before the conflict with Russia broke out. It maintains
six offices and a total of 50 staff.
In a further sign of a growing number of people displaced by the
fighting, UNHCR said its team in Georgia reported on Sunday that up
to 80 percent of inhabitants, or about 56,000 people in Gori, a
major city in central Georgia, had left in fear of Russian attacks.
Russian troops reportedly had reportedly captured Gori Monday.
(Deutsche Welle)
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