On the fourth anniversary of the 2008 war between Georgia and Russia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia, many of the tens of thousands of Georgians who were displaced by the conflict are still fighting – to find a job.
Nine days ago in Georgia’s Black Sea region of Achara, President Mikheil Saakashvili unveiled the glitzy, “seven-star” seaside resort of Anaklia -- a complex intended as a response to Russia’s military presence in breakaway Abkhazia.
Hundreds of Georgians displaced by the conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia could face a fresh upheaval this week as evictions of Internally Displaced Persons from illegal temporary shelters in Tbilisi get underway. While government officials claim the evictions are unavoidable, critics argue that the policy will sacrifice what progress these individuals have made in rebuilding their lives.
Thirty years ago, the dwelling would have been luxurious. But today, between walls damaged by artillery blasts and under collapsing ceilings, over 1,000 nomads from Afghanistan’s south are preparing to spend the winter in Kabul’s condemned Darul Aman Palace.
With the help of American aid, a gleaming new school in central Azerbaijan stands ready to receive the children of internally displaced persons who fled the Agdam Region during the Nagorno-Karabakh war more than 17 years ago.
It’s been almost four months since flooding in Azerbaijan’s Sabirabad Region displaced tens of thousands of residents. Now, amid slow-paced reconstruction efforts, a popular tide of anger and resentment appears to be rising.
Just over two years after war drove them from their homes in South Ossetia, hundreds of ethnic Georgians again face displacement with their eviction from a temporary shelter in a government-owned building in Tbilisi. Residents call the action totally unexpected; a group of rule of law monitors claims that the eviction is illegal.
Two years after Georgia’s August 2008 war with Russia, the end of an international food assistance program could put thousands of families displaced by the conflict at risk for hunger, two international aid organizations say.
