118,000 displaced, UN says

Geneva: The number of people who have fled the fighting in Georgia has risen above 118,000, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Thursday.

According to figures provided by governments in the area, some 45,000 people have fled from the breakaway province of South Ossetia, said UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond.

The bulk of the displaced people are 73,000 Georgians who have remained in Georgia proper, Redmond said. Most of them had fled from the strategic Georgian city of Gori, just south of the boundary with South Ossetia.