Caucasus: Aug ‘08

Journalists from IWPR’s Georgia Regional Media Network visited the war-damaged town of Gori on August 27, several days after fighting between Russian and Georgian forces came to an end.



“The impressions of what I saw in Gori are going to haunt me for a long time,” said mission participant Marika Tsikoridze. “I will never forget how [people] rummaged through the ruins of their homes, hoping to find photos or other memorabilia precious to them. I will never forget how people pulled down their burnt houses that were no longer fit to live in.”



Not all the members of the Georgia Regional Media Network were able to visit Gori, as the main road connecting eastern and western parts of the country continued to be blocked by Russian military at the time of the visit.



During the mission, the journalists went to see two districts of the town that were hardest hit by Russian bombs and a tented encampment at a soviet-style amusement park, where refugees from South Ossetia’s Georgian villages live.



“Under the circumstances, any signs of attention, however insignificant, mean a lot to us,” said a resident of the village of Tkviavi Maia Abashidze, whose house was bombed and then razed to the ground by bulldozers. “Here, in the tent town, we don’t hear shooting any more, but we still live in fear. We are many here, and this helps us not think about what we suffered and what we may be doomed to go though in future.”



“Never have I ever seen so many sad children in one place,” said mission participant Zaur Dargali. “In the tent town in Gori, I saw hundreds of such kids, with no wish to play because of what they’ve gone through. People there sleep on grass. They have no toilets or showers. I got an impression that they still did not realise fully what had happened to them.”



After the visit to the camp, the journalists met former minister for refugees and settlement Koba Subeliani, who is in charge of tending to the needs of the refugees.



“The government has launched a whole series of programmes to support the refugees, to find those who went missing during the conflict, to establish identities of the dead,” said Subelini. “It is of vital importance to us to convey the information as soon as possible to each person affected by the war. All the more so since most of the regional media are paralysed. Which is why I am grateful to see journalists visiting here in an organised way.”



The journalists also visited the TV and radio station Trialeti that was looted during the war. Head of the radio service Nino Chibchiuri, a member of the Georgia Regional Media Network project and one of the few journalists who worked actively throughout the war.



Chibchiuri said he drew on many of the lessons that he’d learnt during IWPR’s conflict resolution workshops when reporting on the war.



“I think I am lucky to have taken that course on how to work in a conflict zone, otherwise I might have failed to provide an unbiased coverage of the war,” said Chibchiuri.



“I started to feel I had a responsibility towards both the Georgian and Ossetian communities. I chose every word I wrote carefully, afraid to make a mistake due to my lack of experience. I am very grateful to IWPR – were it not for its workshops and visits to conflict regions, my work, I guess, would be less balanced.”