BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNS): Georgians displaced by the August conflict with Russia feel some resentment against the Georgian Government and are challenged by trying to find jobs in their new provinces, a United States cardinal who visited them said.
“There’s a lot of unemployment and a lot of resentment against the Government, because they feel the Government caused this to happen,” retired archbishop of Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick said.
He said about 100,000 Georgians have “lost their lands, their homes”, because of the war in the northern provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
“War is never the answer,” said Cardinal McCarrick, who as a member of the board of the US bishops’ Catholic Relief Services visited Georgia in February.
Speaking to Catholic News Service in Beirut, where he attended the February 15 installation of Syrian Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan, Cardinal McCarrick said most of the displaced Georgians “are not welcome to go back” to their homes in northern Georgia.
“They had to leave their homes, they left their livestock, they left everything,” the cardinal told CNS on February 16.
He said he visited two developments built by the Government to house displaced Georgians. In Gori, he said, there were about 5000 small dwellings.
The cardinal said many of the Government-built developments still had not organised schooling for children.
CRS has been active in Georgia, especially since the war, the cardinal said.
“We’re helping with a food pantry and other humanitarian services for these folks,” he said.
The cardinal celebrated Mass for several hundred Catholics during his visit and said he was impressed with their strong faith.
On August 7 Georgia, saying it was responding to Russian troop movements, attacked the breakaway province of South Ossetia.
Russia responded by sending troops into South Ossetia and bombing Georgia. The United States and Britain were among countries critical of Russia.
Georgia and Russia signed cease-fires in mid-August, but later in the month Russia said it recognised the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
Georgia and most of the international community have not recognised the independence of those provinces, and the European Union and United Nations continue to station monitors there.
