USAID Assistant Administrator reports on atmosphere of fear and uncertainty in near-border Georgian villages

Thomas Melia, Assistant Administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), has called deplorable the situation in the Georgian villages located on the border with South Ossetia. The Georgian authorities do not actually solve a lot of social problems of local residents. This was told to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent by residents of the near-border villages.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in South Ossetia, Russian border guards are engaged in works on the arrangement of the border with Georgia and the installation of engineering obstacles on the border. According to the local residents, the barbed wire installed by the border guards passes straight through the territory of the villages.

On April 13, Thomas Melia visited the Georgian villages located on the border with South Ossetia. After that, Thomas Melia arrived in the city of Gori and spoke with local journalists, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Saba Zizikashvili, the editor-in-chief of the website "Qartli.ge", who attended the meeting.

According to Saba Zizikashvili, the USAID Assistant Administrator has "described the situation in the near-border villages as deplorable." "He said that because the barbed wire divided the land plots owned by the residents of the near-border villages. However, it is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that families, relatives, and friends were divided," said Saba Zizikashvili.

Thomas Melia has also drawn attention to "an atmosphere of fear that reigns in the villages near the dividing line," notes Saba Zizikashvili. "People do not know when and who of them will be detained by Russian or South Ossetian soldiers. Villagers also do not know what awaits them after the detention," Saba Zizikashvili quotes Thomas Melia as saying.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.