A senior Georgian government official alleged Tuesday that ethnic Ossetians were carrying out "massacres" of ethnic Georgians near the rebel province of South Ossetia. "South Ossetians supported by Russians are committing horrible massacres in Georgian villages," Georgian National Security Council Secretary Alexander Lomaia told AFP. His charge could not be verified independently. His comments came two days after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and other top Russian officials accused the Georgian government and its troops of committing "genocide" against ethnic Ossetians in the province.They also coincided with Georgia filing a complaint in The Hague with the International Court of Justice for "ethnic cleansing" in its conflict with Russia. Earlier Tuesday, the Georgian foreign ministry also released a statement saying Russian soldiers in South Ossetia were standing by as Ossetian separatists committed acts of "ethnic cleansing." "South Ossetian separatists entered the village of Disevi in Gori district and committed acts of ethnic cleansing, burning houses and attacking the population," the ministry charged.
At a press conference early Wednesday, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili listed more reports of alleged abuses being carried out in Georgia and Russia. "We have been getting reports lately that groups near Tskhinvali were entering villages previously under control of the Georgian government and there have been killings, rampages, ethnic cleansing in the areas," he said, referring to the capital of South Ossetia. "We have credible reports of camps set up in Vladikavkaz where people are interned, of on-site killings, and of executions of innocent civilians," he said. Vladikavkaz is the capital of the Russian region of North Ossetia. "We have been getting different indications and reports of ethnic cleansing in upper Abkhazia, from which the whole population was thrown out and a number of people killed," he said. Upper Abkhazia is a part of the rebel Georgian region of Abkhazia that Saakasvili said fell to Russian forces on Tuesday.
