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GENEVA-Humanitarian aid agencies pressed top Russian authorities on Tuesday for safe access to South Ossetia, where tens of thousands of people are deemed in need of vital supplies.Russian troops control access to the rebel Georgian province, which has been out of reach for aid workers since the start of an 11-day-old conflict between Moscow and Tbilisi.Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Tuesday. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres was to meet Lavrov on Wednesday."We don't have access to South Ossetia, so to have a full picture of the humanitarian impact of the conflict there is impossible at this time," ICRC spokeswoman Anna Nelson told a news briefing in Geneva."One of our top priorities for when we are able to gain access-we're hoping following a meeting with Mr Lavrov that we will have access-is to evaluate the state of medical care, particularly for weapon-wounded people," she said.Russia says 1,600 people, mainly civilians, were killed following an attempt by Georgian forces on August 7-8 to recapture the pro-Moscow province, which broke away from Georgia in the 1990s. The figure has not been independently verified.ICRC officials who reached the western Georgian town of Gori at the weekend were approached by many residents asking for food and medicine, according to the spokeswoman.The neutral humanitarian agency has flown 430 tons of food and medical supplies into Georgia in the past week, she said.To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah...
