Arriving in Tbilisi...

I have arrived in Tbilisi early this morning at around 4 am and have made my way to the hotel… As expected, the Georgian capital was quiet at this time of the morning… as there are – again, as expected – no visible obvious signs in the capital of a war with Russia going on.





In the morning I had the chance to attend a briefing by the UN resident coordinator and the Prime Minister of Georgia, Vladimer Gurgenidze who reported on the number of displaced people. The estimated figure is at around 127,000 displaced people all around Georgia, with about 30,000 in the capital Tbilisi alone. So far the UN has had access to Gori (since Saturday) but not yet in Southern Ossetia.

I was exploring of going to Gori on my own with a driver, which is supposedly being cleared today by withdrawing Russian troops… However, I was told that due to marauding gangsters (who are protected by the Russian army), the route to Gori has become quite dangerous (the car rental company has already “lost” three cars in the last two days) …and there is now a $5,000 deposit required from anyone renting a car… that makes it prohibitive to get there on my own… It seems that the Russian army is not only destroying Georgian infrastructure to harm the country but also resorting to other means to destabilise the country…

So I will be trying to get there with the UN tomorrow/or the next few days – if I can get on one of their trucks…