Red Cross suspends work in Georgia's border region

TBILISI, Georgia -- The Red Cross has suspended work in Georgia's border region with Chechnya, following confirmation that three of its workers have been kidnapped.

There is no word yet on who the kidnappers are -- and no ransom demands have been made -- but Georgian officials say they believe the hostages are safe.

Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said on Monday he expected the fate of the three -- an Italian woman, a French woman and a local driver -- to be made clear soon.

"Analysing the information I have, I can only draw the conclusion that the result will be known in the coming days," he told a news conference.

Shevardnadze added that dozens of police were still searching for the three employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Natascia Zunino from Italy, Sophia Prokofieff from France and driver Yuri Durchiyev were working in the Pankisi gorge, home to many refugees fleeing the war in Chechnya, when radio contact with them was lost on Friday.

Their Toyota off-road vehicle with personal belongings and a damaged radio was discovered on a mountain road 150 km (95 miles) northeast of the capital Tbilisi late on Saturday.

"Four groups consisting of 32 people are continuing their search in this area," said Temur Arabuli, chief police officer of Akhmeta district where the three disappeared.

In June, a group of United Nations military observers was abducted and later released in the breakaway republic of Abkhazia in a conflict zone dividing the separatist region from Georgia proper.

International aid groups pulled out of Chechnya and surrounding regions after a wave of kidnappings and killings of Russians and foreigners which followed the 1994-96 Chechnya war.

Six Red Cross workers were shot to death in 1996 as they slept in Chechnya's capital, Grozny, and at least three foreign aid workers were kidnapped.

Georgian Parliament
International Red Cross

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