Red Cross says it unable to enter South Ossetia

The International Red Cross said it was seeking urgent clarification from Russia after its president was unable to enter the breakaway province of South Ossetia on a humanitarian mission.

Russian troops control access to South Ossetia, at the centre of a 10-day-old conflict between Moscow and its southern neighbour Georgia. Fighting there has left thousands homeless, and many dead and injured.

The Red Cross "has not been able to get access to South Ossetia," Dominik Stillhart, the International Committee of the Red Cross's (ICRC) deputy director of operations, told Reuters in a telephone interview from the Russian city of Vladikavkaz.

"Access to South Ossetia is a priority. We have lined up teams, logistics and assistance ... We need to have discussions in Moscow to find out exactly what is the problem."

"We have calls from people in South Ossetia who can't contact their family members ... it's really important that we get access to assess the situation."

Several NGOs have complained of difficulties in getting access to South Ossetia, where Russia's Emergencies Ministry has been co-ordinating a major relief effort.

Russia says 1,600 people, mainly civilians, were killed following a Georgian attempt on Aug. 7-8 to recapture the rebel province, which broke away from Georgia in the 1990s. The figure has not been independently verified.

ICRC president Jakob Kellenberger had hoped to lead a Red Cross mission to South Ossetia this morning to bring in humanitarian help and assess the situation. But on Sunday evening the necessary permission did not materialise.

Kellenberger was seeking a meeting in Moscow on Tuesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in order to clarify the situation and secure the necessary permission, Stillhart added.

The Red Cross said the humanitarian situation in Georgia appeared to be "much more desperate", with nearly three times as many refugees displaced by the conflict.

"People in Georgia will need assistance for quite some time to come," Stillhart said.

On the other side of the border in Russia, about 25,000 refugees who streamed north out of South Ossetia in the wake of the fighting, had started to return to the province, he added.

"It's very difficult to say (how many have gone back)," Stillhart said. "We saw one collection centre (for refugees) which used to have 600 people. Now there are about 200.".