Friday, September 05, 2008

FEATURES: ‘Where Will We Go?’

by Leah Kohlenberg, 3 September 2008

For many refugees of the Caucasus war, homelessness is an all-too-familiar story.

TBILISI Hunched over a makeshift ironing board crafted from a school teacher’s desk, 36-year-old Kristina Mysuradze experienced a frightening sense of déjà vu.

For nearly 15 years, she and her family lived in an abandoned school building in Gori, much like the kindergarten classroom she now occupies. In 1992, Mysuradze fled an Abkhaz village outside the capital, Sukhumi, where she lived when conflict erupted between Abkhazians and Georgians, ultimately chasing 250,000 ethnic Georgians from the separatist region. It was a nightmare she relived in August, when fighting between Russia and Georgia over the breakaway enclave of South Ossetia closed in on the central Georgian town of Gori.

Related article:
Building Homes, not Just Refuges It’s not too early to plan for the return and resettlement of those displaced by the latest Caucasus conflict. by Anneke Smit 21 August 2008
Out of Chaos, a Wary Calm In a city controlled by Russian soldiers, Georgians take stock. by Abdujalil Abdurasulov 20 August 2008
The Value of Property Ossetian refugees are slow to take up a Georgian offer that could allow them to reclaim their old homes. by Elizaveta Valieva 4 September 2007
A Refuge No More The several thousand Chechen refugees in Georgia have seen their post-revolutionary hopes shattered and are leaving in despair. by Daan van der Schriek 16 June 2004
An Impasse of Irresponsibility Everyone involved in Abkhazia’s frozen conflict--the governments in Tbilisi and Sukhumi, the government-in-exile, and the refugees--is failing to take responsibility for a solution. by Daan van der Schriek 23 October 2003


Azerbaijan: Off the Fence
The Russia-Georgia conflict, and the U.S. vice president’s visit, step up the pressure on Azerbaijan to take sides. From EurasiaNet. by Shahin Abbasov
4 September 2008

Tskhinvali: Back to Life
Residents of the war zone emerge from their hiding places and start to rebuild. by Liza Valieva
3 September 2008
more >>>

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