On
August 22 2008, ten days after a war between Georgia and Russia had ended,
Russia announced the creation of a Buffer Zone on Georgian territory between
Gori and Tshinvali. Neither NGOs nor Georgian police were allowed to enter the
security zone and more than 50 Georgian villages were left at the mercy of
Ossetian paramilitaries and militia. Soon,
this area became a ghost place: houses were burned and plundered, and the dead
bodies of villagers laid in gardens or basements. Still, some of the elderly
have remained, either too old to move, or to protect their houses from being
destroyed. For more than two months these people lived in permanent fear of
being harassed by militia, without electricity and drinking water. At the same
time, their families, almost fifty thousand, fled from their villages and
remained stranded in camps and schools... One year
after the war, less than half of the buffer zone inhabitants have been able to
return to their homes. The atmosphere is still very tense in the villages close
to newly established border with South Ossetia. Gunshots can be heard almost
every night, and thousands of cluster bombs lay untouched in gardens and
fields. Permanent lack of water supply destroyed crops, the only income for
villagers. Once the wealthiest part of Georgia, now the district of Gori has
become a land of despair and poverty. Fear is seen in people eyes and there is less hope for recovery. Their home is still in this designated Buffer zone, thought not officially, so for the villagers war still continues.
