Travel to the western and northern regions of Georgia should be avoided. The mountainous areas near the border with Chechnya are prowled by bandits, and no one is immune. In August, three Red Cross workers on their way to the Pankisi Gorge, where refugees from the conflict in Chechnya have camped, were kidnapped but released unharmed; later, a group of 30 German tourists were attacked on a tour of the Svanitia region but police escorting them managed to repel the bandits. The Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders have suspended operations in the Pankisi Gorge, and UN agencies have pulled out of the area along the Chechen border from Kazbegi to the border with Dagestan.
