Georgia / Russian Federation – ICRC president
announces access to South Ossetia for humanitarian team
Date, location: 20 August 2008, Geneva
Production: Jan Powell, Jon Bjorgvinsson,
Sound: English
Copyrights: ICRC – Access
All
length:4' 31" mins For broadcast tapes and information on footage: Jan Powell, International Committee of the Red
Cross, Geneva,
Playout on Eurovision EVN feed, 20 August, 13.15 GMT GENEVA _ At the end of a 3 day visit to Georgia and the
Russian Federation, ICRC President Jacob Kellenberger announced that personnel from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have been granted access and are on their way to the
capital of South Ossetia, Tskhinvali.
At a press conference in Geneva, Mr Kellenberger explained that the ICRC will assess the need for humanitarian aid arising from the recent armed
conflict.
The ICRC has been on standby over the past week to start work in South Ossetia.
As part of his visit, the ICRC president met with the Russian foreign minister, Sergei
Lavrov, in Moscow on Tuesday.
He said the foreign minister had supported the idea of the ICRC carrying out humanitarian work in South Ossetia.
Mr Kellenberger said the
organisation was impatient to access the area, "there was a strong will on our side and impatience to get in as quickly as possible." During his visit to Tbilisi, Georgia, Mr Kellenberger visited a
collective centre where people who have fled conflict in the Gori area, and from South Ossetia are sheltering.
He saw for himself the conditions under which people are living, describing
them as "really very bad".
The people he met in the shelters were entirely dependent on assistance from organisations like the ICRC for food, water and the basic necessities of life.
On Monday, Mr Kellenberger also visited a centre near the city of Vladikavkaz in North Ossetia that houses people who fled fighting in South Ossetia.
The ICRC estimates there are
around 80,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Georgia as a result of the conflict.
In Georgia, the ICRC has been assisting thousands of people forced to flee their homes, and
supporting medical facilities across the country.
Over the past week, it has brought more that 430 tonnes of food and other relief items into the country as it builds up its capacity to
assist up to 25,000 displaced people.
SHOTLIST 00:00 TBILISI - ICRC President Kellenberger visiting Collective Centre in Tbilisi (called Bagebi Student City), with displaced people.
00 27 IDPs, poor living conditions, people in corridors
00 52 ICRC President Kellenberger talks to volunteers registering IDPs GENEVA , ICRC HQ Press conference
01 20 ICRC President
Jacob Kellenberger "There was a strong will on our side and impatience, to get in as quickly as possible, because we knew that many people wished us to go in.
But I think after all, when
you think when this conflict started, I think its not a bad result and looking at these difficult circumstances, that today we can go in.
But its clear that the earlier we can go in the
better.
01 38 Press conference – backgrounders 02 05 ICRC President Jacob Kellenberger "According to our accounting there are about 80,000 IDPs, the ICRC has a capacity to assist
about one third, so we are the main actor on this, as it is our task.
And therefore I was visiting one of these centres for displaced people.
Yes and these are really very bad
conditions I must say, and I have to say really people are entirely dependant on assistance from organisations like the ICRC , or others.
When I say entirely dependent I mean its food
and non-food, and I mean…where I was, there was no running water, no sanitation, so it was really bad.
And these people, they really do need full, full assistance." 03 00 TBILISI
Unloading ICRC food and non-food aid packages in Tbilisi 03 33 NORTH OSSETIA , ALAGUIR, near the city of Vladikavkaz, displaced women waiting for transport, retuning to homes in South Ossetia.
04 11 ICRC President Jacob Kellenberger visiting temporary accommodation for IDPs in Alaguir 04 31 ENDS For further information, please contact:
Yuri Shafarenko, ICRC Moscow,
tel: +7 867 253 0737 or +7 903 545 3534 (mobile)
Jessica Barry, ICRC Tbilisi, tel: +995 32 35 55 10 or +995 91 600 689 (mobile)
Anna Nelson, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 2426 or +41
79 217 3264 (mobile)
for audio-visual information, Jan Powell, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 2511 or +41 79 2519314 (mobile)
U.S. senators Joseph Lieberman (2nd L) and Lindsey Graham (3rd L) meet Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili (R) in Tbilisi, August 20, 2008. A roll of explosions at a Russian-occupied military base ...
