Word: south
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...talk about politics because we don't want to argue," she says. "Just a few days ago I spoke to my aunt and she told me, 'You know, we're never going to see each other again.'" Bagayeva's eyes well up with tears, but, like so many in South Ossetia, she feels the sacrifice is one worth making: "We want a better situation at the border, but we also want our own country. For us, there is no road back. We want our independence." (Read: "A Year After War, S. Ossetia More Dependent on Russia...
...International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), one of the few NGOs still working in South Ossetia, has been trying to find a path through the minefield of identity politics to reunite families that have been split by the war. "Right after the conflict there were lots of requests from people seeking to be reunited with their families," says Marina Tedeti, spokeswoman for the ICRC operating in South Ossetia. Since the end of the war - and with the support of both the Georgian and the South Ossetian governments - the organization has brought 320 people back together with their families through...
...reunifications can be wrenching affairs in such a confused atmosphere, as people come to realize that choosing between family members means having to choose whether to be Georgian or South Ossetian - in some cases, children find themselves forced to decide between one parent or another. "We repeatedly and clearly explain that this decision is final - now and forever," says Tedeti. "If they change their mind, they cannot come back...
...them across the border and though the risks of crossing illegally are high, people still try. On July 31, a Georgian man was killed and his family members wounded when he drove their car over a mine while trying to bypass a checkpoint to get from Georgia into the South Ossetian-controlled village of Akhalgori. (See pictures of the Russians in Ossetia...
...Mamuka Zenashvili, an ethnic Georgian who continues to live in Tskhinvali with his South Ossetian wife Nino, says he does not believe the border will be opened soon. But he has seen signs that, one day, people may be able to move on from the war. "People just want to visit family and friends and trade," he says, looking out over a neighborhood that was nearly leveled by the fighting last year. "My neighbors have enough of their own problems to not dwell on my last name. Sometimes they even come over to ask if they can help repair...