Meeting of President of South Ossetia with refugees in North Ossetia failed to meet their expectations

The meeting on March 5 of Eduard Kokoity, President of South Ossetia, with the refugees living in North Ossetia, failed to meet their expectations. After his two-hour speech, President answered only seven questions of the audience.

Prior to start of the action, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent managed to talk to several refugees from South Ossetia and to find out what their expectations from the meeting with the President were.

"I live in a hostel that belongs to a state agency, without any modern conveniences. I'd like to know when housing certificates will be issued to us. A whole generation has grown up homeless. Also, I'd like to know how much Moscow leaders know about our situation," said Ms Kelekhsaeva, representative of the Committee of Forced Migrants in North Ossetia, who has the status of refugee in North Ossetia since 1990.

Refugees asked Mr Kokoity about the steps the government of South Ossetia planned to take in the sphere of the Republic's economic development, improvement of its economic independence, whether the President was going to achieve recognition of the Republic by other countries, and what his vision was of the unification of North and South Ossetia.

In answer to the first question, Eduard Kokoity said that the situation in South Ossetia is not so simple, however, the Republic has its state bodies and a capable government formed under guidelines of Moscow experts; that one cannot restore everything overnight, however, 172 dwelling houses have already been restored, and 600 more are on the waiting list.