Refugees return to shattered south Osettia

ASD123SDF6.jpgFive days of heavy fighting have left Tskhinvali, south Osettia, in ruins, but now at least refugees are returning.

They find a cleanup struggling to make a difference, with few services and no utilities.

Tens of thousands have been displaced in this conflict, but some things are getting back to normal; pensions are being paid again, and some aid is getting through.

Some of the damage will take years to make good; other scars will last longer after the ferocity of the frontline. The death toll was high in this town say some, but no-one seems to know how many.

Tblisi is taking its share of refugees, but many are finding shelters already full, some with elderly people who escaped the breakaway black sea Abkhazia province and its conflict over 15 years ago.

In Germany it is the US army leading the aid push, with military transport aircraft being loaded with humanitarian goods, mostly bedding and baby food, in the first lift.

One to two flights a day are planned for the moment.

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