Food Sent to Suffering Georgia Area
By Christopher Torchia
Associated Press Writer
August 20, 2008
CBNNews.com - IGOETI, Georgia -- A convoy of badly needed food aid for beleaguered Georgians rumbled through a Russian checkpoint Wednesday, waved through by soldiers who themselves showed no signs of fulfilling their president's promise of a pullback within two days.
The Igoeti checkpoint about 30 miles west of the capital, Tbilisi, is one of the deepest Russian penetrations into Georgia since fighting broke out in a Russian-backed separatist region of the country nearly two weeks ago.
Under a cease-fire agreement, Russian and Georgian forces are supposed to pull back to positions they held before the fighting in South Ossetia started. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said his troops will complete the withdrawal by Friday, but few signs of movement have been seen other than the departure of a small portion of the troops who have held the strategically key city of Gori, another 25 miles west of Igoeti.
The Russian seizure of Gori and villages in the region has left thousands of people with scarce and uncertain food supplies. The nine flatbed trucks carrying aid from the U.N.'s World Food Program could last for a few days.
The Russian forces in Georgia appear to be aiming to weaken Georgia's military through the detention of personnel and destruction of equipment before they withdraw as promised.
On Tuesday, Russian forces drove out of the Black Sea port city of Poti in trucks and APCs loaded with about 20 blindfolded and bound Georgian prisoners - identified by local officials as soldiers and police - and seized four U.S. Humvees. They reportedly were taken to a Russian-controlled military base nearby, and Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said Wednesday they still were being held.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said Tuesday that Russia was not only flouting its withdrawal commitment but that its forces were "not losing time" in damaging Georgia by destroying infrastructure.
"Right now there are Russian soldiers and tanks at Poti," Georgian Finance Minister Nika Gilavri said. "They want to open every single container" and inspect them.
Georgian television showed footage of a tense standoff at a military training base in northwestern Georgia, where Russian troops tried to enter but were turned away by Georgian police. There was no violence, but the report said the Russians threatened to return and destroy the base if they were not allowed in.
However, the two nations exchanged 20 prisoners of war - 15 Georgians and five Russians, according to the head of Georgia's Security Council - in an effort to reduce tensions.
The hostilities began when Georgia cracked down on South Ossetia, a region within Georgia's borders that is aligned with Moscow and wants its independence. Russia answered the crackdown by sending its troops and tanks across the Georgian border.
On the diplomatic front, NATO foreign ministers suspended their formal contacts with Russia as punishment. Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said "there can be no business as usual with Russia under present circumstances."
But the NATO allies, bowing to pressure from European nations that depend heavily on Russia for energy, stopped short of more severe penalties being pushed by the United States.
The Russian Ambassador to NATO, Dmitry Rogozin, dismissed the impact of the emergency meeting in Brussels, Belgium: "The mountain gave birth to a mouse."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said NATO was trying to make a victim of Georgia's "criminal regime." Georgia's desire for NATO membership is strongly opposed by Russia.
Lavrov also said it was Georgian troops who needed to pull back to their permanent bases first. The U.N. Security Council also was holding emergency consultations on the conflict.
The White House made clear it expected Russia to move faster. "It didn't take them really three or four days to get into Georgia, and it really shouldn't take them three or four days to get out," spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
Sens. Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham were headed to Tbilisi on Wednesday, where they were to meet with Brig. Gen. Jon Miller and his team, who only recently arrived themselves to assess the humanitarian needs in Georgia.
The Republican members of the Senate Armed Services committee were to meet with Georgian officials and visit a camp of people displaced by the brief war.
Tensions also have flared between Russia and another former Soviet republic seeking NATO membership, Ukraine. The two countries sparred over Russia's use of a naval base in the port of Sevastopol, which it is renting from Ukraine. The Kremlin wants the Russian ships to remain in Sevastopol even when the current lease expires in 2017.
Ukraine's pro-Western President, Viktor Yushchenko, sided with Georgia in its conflict with Russia and moved to restrict the movement of Russian ships in the port. Ukraine's foreign minister later said Ukraine would not physically prevent Russian ships from entering and leaving the base.
---
Associated Press Writers Mike Eckel in Gori and Igoeti, Georgia; Christopher Torchia in Igoeti; David Rising, Misha Dzhindzhikhashvili and Matti Friedman in Tbilisi, Georgia; Dmitry Lovetsky in Ruisi, Georgia; David Nowak, Jim Heintz, Steve Gutterman, Jill Lawless and Maria Danilova in Moscow; Olga Bondaruk in Kiev, Ukraine; and Paul Ames in Brussels, Belgium contributed to this report.
© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
CBN IS HERE FOR YOU!
Are you seeking answers in life? Are you hurting?
Are you facing a difficult situation?
A caring friend will be there to pray with you in your time of need.
