REPORT: Rebuilding comes slowly in South Ossetian capital (iht.com)

Buildings in a village north of Tskhinvali, the capital of the Georgian enclave of South Ossetia, still bear the marks of last year's war between Russia and Georgia. (Photo: James Hill for The New York Times)

By Ellen Barry
Published: March 8, 2009

TSKHINVALI, Georgia: Six months after Russia and Georgia fought a war over South Ossetia, the enclave's capital city is still a mass of fresh scars.
Many people in Tskhinvali are shivering through the winter behind windows made of plastic sheeting. Piles of broken glass and trash - in one case, the charred turret of a Georgian tank - sit along central boulevards, as they did in August. Stray dogs, their owners long gone, nose around the streets for food.
There are reminders of the euphoria that swept this valley last summer, when Russia acknowledged South Ossetia's 18-year separatist struggle by recognizing it as a sovereign nation. Graffiti proclaims "Ossetia thanks its defenders" and "Great Russia," and citizens say they are extraordinarily grateful to be free of Georgian governance.

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