Conversations with Georgians

Work has of course been busy today, we've been inundated with emails from concerned donors and former partners. We spent this morning trying to draft a short report outlining the current situation for the country and for the organisation. I doubt it will be the last we make this week.

Through conversations with my boss I've managed to learn a bit more about the current situation in the cities in which we have offices, many of which were bombed (the cities not the offices).

Having spent the whole weekend in Tbilisi, mostly infront of computers or hanging around with expats this has been very interesting information for me as it's sometimes hard to get reliable information from outside of the city.

Zugdidi

In Zugdidi Russian troops patrol the streets. The city is currently completely deserted after the evacuation, a number of people are known to have stayed, some of our staff members for instance are preparing to help coordinate relief efforts.

Residents have mostly fled to villages in the Samegrelo region unable to flee to the relative saftey of Tbilisi due to the precarious situation in Gori endangering routes across the country.

There are reports of supply shortages and rising commodity costs in the villages, many food shops are closed, the price of petrol has soared and phone credit is changing hands at over three times its value.

Gori

The situation in Gori is grave, a large number of high rise flats have been damaged or destroyed, killing many civilians. The city has no electricity and communication is extremely difficult after the destruction of commercial communication masts by Russian bombers.

Rumours, mentioned in this morning's post and stoked by Saakashvili himself are still flying that Gori is being approached by Russian tanks.

If you read the article I linked to there you get a good idea that Russians in Gori is not an immediate threat. You also get a good picture of the confused double-speak Misha has collapsed into. I'm not going to go into Misha's future right now though.

The vast majority of Gori's population have fled to Tbilisi which is considered the safest place to be by most Georgians at the moment. It is not yet clear where the refugees are being hosted. Appeals have been made on television for Tbilisi locals to host families but, World Vision is reporting many have gone an IDP centre still existing after the last war.

My organisation has representatives within a large number of collective centres in Tbilisi, we hope to have up to date information on this issue after today.

Poti

There is less information on Poti. Russian airstrikes there over the weekend seem not to have destroyed the harbour. Evacuation proceedures began yesterday according to a source who used to work for the organisation. Those who remain are said to be in a state of panic.

Given that the harbour is still functioning I would imagine that Poti is not unlikely to be the unfortunate recipient of further Russian bombing raids, particularly given the presence of Russia's Black Sea fleet off the Georgian coast.

There were a large number of tourists in Poti when the bombs fell, the Black Sea is popular with both Georgian and foreign tourists. There have been no reports of any injuries to foreign tourists.

Senaki

The town that appears to be worst affected is Senaki, unfortunately it is also the town we know least about as our offices in Senaki were closed a while ago.

Located next to Georgia's newest most modern base it's a small town and bombs hit it in the centre, the railway station, main market, theatre and Bank of Georgia offices were all damaged.

Most importantly for my organisation an IDP collective centre was also hit. Being bombed out of the home you were forced into.. absolutely disgusting.

From what we have heard the base is still functional.

Vindicating my statements to reasure you, most Georgians believe that the capital is the safest place to be despite the recent bombing raids on targets just outside the city.

Secondhand Reports from Within the Georgian Army

A friend at work has friends who participated in the Georgian offensive to take South Ossetia. He was angry at government distortion regarding casualty figures and spoke of what friends had said regarding some confusing orders given on the battlefield.

Firstly, I would add the warning that it is very dangerous to deal with numbers at the moment. I'm positive both sides have been pulling straight out of the air numbers of casualties, injuries, people displaced, planes shot down and bombs dropped.

A soldier might however have a reasonable idea of how many lives were lost on his own side. My friend's, friend (not the best name for a source I know) estimates that up to 2,000 Georgian troops died the assault on Tskinvali between Friday and Saturday.

If Misha's estimates of 90% civilian casualties on the Georgian side are correct we're looking at 20,000 dead Georgians.. I don't think we're quite there yet.

As an aside and speaking of dodgy numbers Interfax is reporting that 2,000 foreigners are leaving Tbilisi. I have no idea where they got that number from, whilst I don't know how many of us expats have left (I'll look into it for you all though) it's a vast over estimate for sure.

Anyway another interesting thing that came out of my chat with my collegue was that according to his friend troops had reached the tunnel that links South Ossetia with North Ossetia (through which Russian troops made their counter-attack) twice. Both times troops were ordered by Georgian Generals to fall back without making the tunnel unpassable.

This baffled the troops, my friend and myself. Make of it what you will. I'd be interested to hear your theories.

Winston and Temur

Still no real news but a friend in Holland sent me a link to an article in Le Monde [In French] that covers their capture.

As far as we know this is the first report to appear in Western media on the situation. Please continue to get it try and get the matter publicised.

I find the overall lack of press coverage on the issue baffling. Not even Winston and Temur's own paper The Messenger (website, blog) are covering it (though I did recieve an email confirming their capture when I wrote to them).

So

Still more confusion, still more contradictory unconfirmable reports and at the time of writing still more fighting.

I will update you all again at some point this evening with a bit more from the agencies and a bit more from me.