UN raises number of uprooted in Georgia to 192,000

An estimated 192,000 people were uprooted in the August fighting over South Ossetia, but 68,000 are already back home, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees revised its figure upward from 158,000 people it previously said were displaced by the fighting between Georgia, Russia and South Ossetian rebel forces last month.

The new figures are based on better counting, UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said.

Some 23,000 will need shelter over the winter before they can return and their houses will be rebuilt next year, he said.

"The remaining 31,000 individuals are not expected to return in the foreseeable future," he told reporters, adding that these people come from South Ossetia, from the so-called buffer zone held by Russian forces south of the province and from Abkhazia.

Violence against ethnic Georgians and looting has been reported in the areas. Georgia has accused Russia and its separatist allies of ethnically cleansing Georgians from South Ossetia and Abkhazia - which Russia has recognized as independent nations.

Russia has denied the allegations and said its troops are controlling looting and protecting ethnic Georgians.

Redmond said UNHCR aid workers were still unable to access the buffer zone. A joint humanitarian mission with other U.N. agencies earlier this week was denied entry to the area, he said.

But UNHCR estimates that in addition to 68,000 who have already returned to their homes, another 5,000 will be able to go back before the start of winter, he said.

The refugee camp in the city of Gori, which hosts some 2,200 uprooted, is overcrowded because too many people have spontaneously come from the capital of Tbilisi to stay at the camp, Redmond said.

In Tbilisi, many uprooted had to leave school buildings in which they were staying to allow classes to start, he said. But with the capacity of Gori camp exhausted, authorities are trying to set up new accommodation centers in public buildings elsewhere, Redmond added.