NUNCIO IN GEORGIA: AID STILL BLOCKED FROM OSSETIA

26-08-2008

TBILISI, Georgia, AUG. 25, 2008 (Zenit.org).- If a humanitarian corridor is opened into South Ossetia, as Benedict XVI is urging, the scope of the emergency there might be revealed to be larger than expected, said the nuncio in Georgia.

Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti affirmed to Vatican Radio on Sunday that the "real emergency at present is the need to focus public opinion on the situation in South Ossetia, where there is no way of opening the humanitarian corridor the Pope called for."
Only once this corridor is opened will the extent of the humanitarian crisis caused by the Georgia-Russia war be known, he added.

Russia and Georgia engaged in a two-week battle after Georgia on Aug. 7 tried to take control of the separatist region of South Ossetia. Russia responded with a broad offensive, quickly taking control of Georgian territory.

Today, tensions were further heightened by a Russian Parliament vote to recognize South Ossetia and another Georgian breakaway region, Abkhazia, as independent states.

Meanwhile, the situation in South Ossetia from a humanitarian perspective remains uncertain.

"We don't know -- unfortunately what we do know is through non-official sources -- how the local villages are, especially the Georgian minority," Archbishop Gugerotti said. "We know there are burned out homes and fields, destroyed villages, etc. There might be an even more serious situation there, of which we are ignorant because we don't have access to that area."

The prelate said international influence will be needed for a corridor to be opened.

"We have refugees who would like to return and who might be prevented from doing so, because we must wait to see what type of norms are established, and if they would be permitted to return to their homes," explained the prelate.

He added that "the immediate future of these people must be considered."

Thanking the Pope

Archbishop Gugerotti did affirm that Georgians gratefully welcomed the Pope's appeals on behalf of their situation. The Holy Father mentioned Georgia in his Angelus addresses Aug. 10 and 17.
"A recording of the Angelus was broadcast in Tbilisi's main square immediately after the appeal of the patriarch of Georgia," the archbishop explained. "And we have received calls of gratitude from simple people. Also in Gori, when Caritas volunteers arrived with aid, they were told: 'We Georgians will never forget what the Pope has done for us.'"
In this connection, the nuncio highlighted the joint humanitarian effort of Orthodox and Catholics, noting that almost all the aid is going to the Orthodox population since most Catholics reside in areas not affected by the conflict.
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