Blasts, Shooting Reported in South Ossetia

Click on image to enlarge the detailed map of breakaway South Ossetia.

Sporadic shootouts and multiple explosions, which have resulted in the injury of three Georgian civilians, including two children, were reported on November 9 in the South Ossetian conflict zone, just four days after a top-level agreement was signed by Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoev that envisages a ceasefire and the demilitarization of the conflict zone.

The 9 and 10 year old Otinashvili brothers were injured after an unknown explosive went off in the Georgian village of Kemerti in the South Ossetian conflict zone. This was the second reported explosion in the conflict zone on November 9 and the fourth in the last 10 days. The first blast on November 9 resulted in the death of a local man, Mate Kobaladze, who passed away late last night in a hospital in the conflict zone.  Four others have been injured in the blasts.

Reports over sporadic, nightly shootout preceded the news of the explosions, followed by mutual accusations by the Georgian and South Ossetian sides, each blaming the other for opening fire.

The Georgian side claims that the village of Tamarasheni near the separatist capital Tskhinvali came under overnight shelling on November 9. No casualties were reported. A statement by the Press and Information Committee of breakaway South Ossetia, however, claims that Georgian forces opened fire on the Ossetian villages of Kverneti and Pris overnight on November 9.

In an interview with the Russian news agency Regnum Commander of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces (JPKF) in South Ossetia, Russian Major-General Marat Kulakhmetov said that the presence of unauthorized, non-peacekeeping forces on both sides in the conflict zone “is a source of tension.”

“Actually, overnight shootouts occur on a daily bases,” he added.

Major-General Marat Kulakhmetov said that the Georgian side has already provided the JPKF with a list of those Georgian servicemen who are members of the Georgian peacekeeping battalion stationed in the conflict zone.

“This will help us to reveal unauthorized armed groups in the conflict zone,” he added.

Meanwhile, Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Goga Khaindrava met with representatives of the South Ossetian side on November 9 in Tskhinvali and discussed the implementation of the agreement signed by Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoev in Sochi on November 5.

The main provisions of this agreement include the pull out of non-peacekeeping forces from the conflict zone before November 20; free movement of goods and people; cooperation of law enforcement agencies and the launching of discussions over joint economic projects.

But according to Georgian media reports, the South Ossetian side has already accused Tbilisi of violating the Sochi agreement by deploying its reserve forces in the vicinity of the conflict zone.

An official ceremony for the setting up of a training field for the reserve forces of the Georgian Defense Ministry was held on November 9 in the village of Dzevera, in the Gori district in central Georgia. The village lies just 10 km away from Tskhinvali. The South Ossetian conflict zone covers the area within a 15-kilometer radius from the center of Tskhinvali. According to a 1992 ceasefire agreement, only peacekeeping forces may be deployed in the conflict zone.

Georgian Defense Minister Giorgi Baramidze, who attended the ceremony, downplayed South Ossetian protests by saying that the Georgian army will do what it finds necessary, “no matter how much separatists will squeal.”

“This place, where we are now standing, is not a conflict zone,” Mikheil Kareli, the Governor of the Shida Kartli region, which neighbors breakaway South Ossetia, said while speaking with reporters in a reservists training camp in the village of Dzevera.