Wounds of Georgia

In Egneri, which is only a few meters from what is now a heavily militarized Georgian-Ossetian border it seems the war that raged in the area a year ago has never stopped. The few remaining residents of the village seldom leave their houses that were heavily damaged.

Egneri is situated only a few kilometers from Tkhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, a tiny Russian-backed separatist region that broke free from Tbilisi’s rule in the wake of the Soviet Union’s demise. Tbilisi has unsuccessfully tried to regain control of the region and its latest attempt on August 8, 2008 to recover South Ossetia at the point of the bayonet drew a fierce military response from Russia.

Advancing Russian troops drove Georgian forces out of the disputed region and occupied vast swathes of territory in Georgia proper, causing an exodus of the local population.

By the time the European Union managed to broker a cease-fire between Moscow and Tbilisi on August 12, nearly 400 civilians had died and a large number of civilians had been displaced.

Now Zaza Doydiashvili can see his two homes left in Tskhinvali from the balcony of his house in Egneri. But the 44-year-old father-of-five cannot return to where still a year ago he owned property and had Ossetian neighbors.

“Most of my best friends were Ossetians. They were telling me to pass to their side and have a secure life. But how could I do that? And now I don’t know how I will keep my family,” says Zaza, a mechanical engineer by training, who is now left without livelihood to maintain his large family.

Zaza’s fifth daughter, Ketran, was born exactly a year ago, on the night when Tkhinvali came under shelling. He tells of how he managed to somehow get his wife through shootings and explosions to the maternity hospital in Gori, a town in Georgia close to the border with South Ossetia, some 30 kilometers from Tskhinvali.

Meanwhile, the house of the Doydiashvilis in Egneri was completely destroyed. Their family was one of the few that decided to stay in the village. Now they live inside a makeshift provided by international organizations. They also received a compensation of $15,000 from Georgian authorities for the construction of a new house, but they say they spent that money long ago.

“We had to eat something. We couldn’t go hungry, could we? I don’t know how I will spend the winter, it is terrible. I have nowhere to go,” says Zaza.
Before the war, the village was home to 240 households. Now only 30 of them remain.

The family of Anna Chlaidze, Zaza’s fellow villagers, is in the same situation. Anna says she continues to live with the horrors of the war.

“I still feel fear. Even now I hear shots every day. But it isn’t our fault that we were deprived of everything,” she says.

Almost no traces of war can now be seen in Gori (the birthplace of notorious Soviet tyrant Joseph Stalin), which is a strategic Georgian town not far from the border with South Ossetia. The town was captured and held for two weeks by advancing Russian troops during last year’s brief war.

Gori’s deputy mayor Zirab Chinchilakashvili says that they were unprepared for that war and that’s why there were many victims and much destruction.

“Gori was under occupation for two weeks. During that period even international organizations had no access to the town,” says Chinchilakashvili. “Russian soldiers were forcibly displacing people from villages in the Gori region. Meanwhile, the Russian media were presenting it as evacuation of civilians helped by the Russians.”

After the cessation of hostilities life was gradually returning to normal in Gori and elsewhere in the country. Jointly with a number of international organizations Georgian authorities have tried to restore vital infrastructure in the war-torn country.

According to Gori’s vice-mayor, the state had allocated a compensation of $15,000 to the families whose houses had been razed to the ground and international organizations paid another $800 to them. The restoration of half-damaged homes was done at the expense of the state and a compensation of $400 was given to their owners.

Chinchilakashvili says that while providing people with shelter and food was an urgent matter a year ago, today the challenges are different – providing people with jobs.

Officially, the Russo-Georgian war displaced some 25,000 people, including 19,000 Georgians from South Ossetia.

With foreign assistance as well as through their own means, Georgian authorities have built 18,000 new homes for 25,000 refugees. These homes are located in 21 camps in different parts of the country. The largest camp is in Tserovani, which is only 25 kilometers away from Georgian capital Tbilisi, where there are 2,000 homes with all amenities.

Zeyna Metraveli works at one of the baker’s shops in Tserovani. She fled from the village of Kertan in South Ossetia, where she says Georgians and Ossetians used to live side by side.

“They burned the houses of all of us, nothing was left there. My husband, two sons and I left on August 8,” says Zeyna. “Even today I don’t want to believe that all that was started by the Russians. I hate politics. Whatever games they want to play, why do they want to get us, ordinary people, involved? Why should I be a refugee today?”

Suliko, 74, lives close to the baker’s shop. He had come with his wife Ania and daughters from the village of Tamarasheni, which is also in South Ossetia. They say they left there a two-storied house, an orchard and a vast household.

“My house was razed to the ground. Our village was home to both Georgians and Ossetians. The Russians are to blame for this war, the Ossetians will later understand, but it will be too late,” says Suliko.

In Tserovani the state pays for people’s utilities and provides them with food. The school building will be ready in autumn. However, people complain that there are no jobs and therefore they are strapped for cash. Many of the residents still cherish hopes that one day they will be able to return to their native villages.

Georgian political analyst Pata Zakarashvili says that the situation has not yet reached its logical conclusion.

“Georgia recognizes neither Abkhazia nor South Ossetia. I think it is a big mistake, because it would be easier to make arrangements with them than with Russia. Of course, it is impossible to get Russia out of the way, but at least it will be possible to minimize its role,” says Zakarashvili. “Georgia’s position now is to speak to Russia, which backs South Ossetia, and Russia wants to speak not with Georgia, but with the European Union and the United States that back Georgia. As a result, a new situation has emerged with the Russia-EU and Russia-US relationships.”

Gayane Mkrtchyan was among a group of Armenian and Azerbaijani journalists on a visit to Georgia ( July 29-August 1) organized by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (www.iwpr.net).