ISTANBUL (AFP) — One of three US ships carrying relief supplies to Georgia cleared Turkish straits and headed for the Black Sea Friday, where it was due to arrive in the Georgian port of Poti in a few days.
The two other ships -- the Coast Guard cutter Dallas and the Mount Whitney, currently being loaded up in an Italian port -- are also bound for Georgia with humanitarian aid.
Several dozen people opposing McFaul's passage gathered on the European side of the Bosphorus brandishing signs reading "Yankee go home," and "We will not abandon this country to the Americans," in a demonstration organised by Turkey's Communist party.
Washington announced Wednesday that Turkey had given the green light for the Black Sea passage of the ships, which are carrying thousands of blankets, hygiene kits, baby food and infant care supplies. Once in Poti, the material will be transported by land to the central Georgian city of Gori.
This is the first time that a US warship enters the Black Sea on a humanitarian mission and the first show of US military force in the region since the conflict between Georgia and Russia began August 7.
US officials estimate the value of aid provided to date at 10.7 million dollars (7.2 million euros).
The European Union said Friday it was providing several million euros in new aid to Georgia, while Japan announced it had sent one million dollars in emergency humanitarian assistance to help people displaced by the conflict between Moscow and Tbilisi.
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