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| Tbilisi urges Russian peacekeepers to secure peace in South Ossetia. |
Overnight shootouts and shellings followed by Tbilisi’s and Tskhinvali’s mutual accusations of opening fire are the topics that prevail in reports that have been coming from the South Ossetian conflict zone over the past week. No casualties have been reported yet; however, the recent developments very much resemble those of July-August, when sporadic overnight shootings grew into armed clashes between South Ossetian and Georgian forces in early August.
“Shooting takes place there every night… We need huge efforts in order to preserve peace; we should not yield to the provocation,” Georgian Defense Minister Giorgi Baramidze told reporters on October 26.
Recent developments in the conflict zone dominated the Georgian Parliament’s session on October 26. MP Guram Vakhtangashvili, who is the elected official from the South Ossetia’s Didi Liakhvi single-mandate constituency, which is mainly populated by an ethnic Georgian population, said at the session that “intensive shelling” in the South Ossetian conflict area may force the local Georgian population to leave their homes.
“As a result of pressure from the Ossetian separatists, the number of internally displaced persons may increase by 25 thousand in Georgia,” MP Guram Vakhtangashvili said.
Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze said in response that “it is too hard to terrorize the Georgian population.” “We will not allow anyone to terrorize our population,” she added. Nino Burjanadze also called on Russian peacekeeping troops to protect the ceasefire in the region. “Otherwise there is no need of their presence there,” she added.
MP Guram Vakhtangashvili also said that the strategic heights overlooking both the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali and the Georgian villages in the conflict zone, which were handed over to the joint peacekeeping troops by the Georgian forces in August, are now again occupied by Ossetian militia groups.
In October, residents of the Georgian villages of breakaway South Ossetia twice blocked the road connecting Tskhinvali with Java, a town in a northern part of the region, protesting against the frequent shootouts.
But the South Ossetian side blames the Georgian forces for opening fire.
The Press and Information Committee of the unrecognized South Ossetian Republic reported that fire was opened on the northern suburb of Tskhinvali overnight on October 26 from the Georgian village of Tamarasheni. “The shelling was carried out by grenade-launchers and lasted for 30 minutes,” the statement issued on October 26 reads.
Aleksandre Kiknadze, Commander of the Georgian battalion of the joint peacekeeping troops, told Civil Georgia on October 25 that two additional checkpoints of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces will be deployed in the South Ossetian conflict area, amid sporadic shootouts, which mainly occur during the nights.
But some Georgian officials accuse the Russian peacekeepers of siding with the South Ossetian militias. Mikheil Kareli, who is the top Georgian official in Shida Kartli region, which also includes part of breakaway South Ossetia, accused Commander of the Russian peacekeeping troops Maj. Gen. Marat Kulakhmetov of provoking tensions in the conflict zone.
June-July 2004 witnessed similar developments in South Ossetia. Shootings were occurring almost every night in the conflict zone. The Georgian side was mobilizing more and more forces in the region under the pretext of protection of the Georgian villages, which surround the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali.
These sporadic shootouts steadily grew into armed clashes in early August, which was culminated by the capture of the strategic heights by the Georgian forces on August 19. But the very next day the Georgian side pulled out its extra troops from the conflict zone and handed over the heights to the joint peacekeeping troops involving Georgian, Russian and Ossetian forces. The move was described by the Georgian authorities as an attempt to give peace a last chance, but the South Ossetian side referred to it as “a retreat after the failed military operation.”
A total of 17 Georgian servicemen were killed during the clashes with South Ossetian militias in August. No information about the casualties from the South Ossetian side is available.