Peace Process Endangered as Civilians Shelled in S.Ossetia

Three mortar shells, which hit the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali on September 20, injured some ten people, including a two-old-year child. The OSCE has already condemned the incident as an act “against all norms of civilized behaviour.”

The incident coincided with the 15th anniversary of the ‘independence’ of South Ossetia and a surprise visit by Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili to the Georgian villages in the conflict zone.

This shelling of Tskhinvali has been confirmed by both the Georgian and Ossetian sides, but there are conflicting reports about who opened fire.

“Currently I can say only the direction from which the shells were fired – this is the village of Nikozi, which is mainly populated by Georgians. Nikozi – this is only direction and this does not mean that Georgians were shooting… The exact location from where the shots were fired is has not yet been identified,” Maj. Gen. Kulakhmetov, Commander of the Joint Peacekeeping Forces stationed in the conflict zone, said on September 21.

The South Ossetian Press and Information Committee reported that Tskhinvali was hit by mortar fire from the nearby Georgian villages of Ergneti and Nikozi.

Chairman of the Georgian Parliamentary Committee for Defense and Security Givi Targamadze dismissed reports by the South Ossetian side as “disinformation” and accused the South Ossetian authorities of “staging provocations.”

Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Giorgi Khaindrava made a more cautious statement, avoiding putting blame directly on the South Ossetian side. “I do not know who did it. But they are enemies of Georgia and idiots,” Khaindrava said on September 21.

The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel said in a statement issued on September 21 that “the firing of heavy weapons into civilian areas is not only a serious breach of the ceasefire agreement, but it is also against all norms of civilized behaviour and decency. I have no hesitation in totally condemning this act.”

The South Ossetian side announced on September 21 that it has suspended its participation in the Joint Control Commission. The commission, involving the Georgian, South Ossetian, Russian and Russia’s North Ossetian sides, oversees the ceasefire and demilitarization process in the conflict zone.

“Until the Georgian side officially apologizes, we will stop working in frames of the JCC. In the current condition it is very difficult to talk about meeting with Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli,” Eduard Kokoity, President of breakaway South Ossetia said, according to the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee.

The South Ossetian leader and the Georgian PM were scheduled to meet at the end of September. A JCC session was also planned for late September in Russia’s North Ossetian capital Vladikavkaz, in order to discuss the current situation in the conflict zone and demilitarization issues.

‘Hawkish’ Trip

Another incident in the South Ossetian conflict zone, involving Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili and several other Georgian officials preceded the shelling of Tskhinvali later on September 20.

Defense Minister Okruashvili, accompanied by Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Levan Nikolaishvili and several influential parliamentarians from the ruling National Movement party, visited  Georgian villages in the Didi Liakhvi gorge, north of Tskhinvali on September 20.
 
While in the gorge, the Georgian delegation blocked the major road into the conflict zone and barred a group of Russian citizens from moving from Tskhinvali further north, in the direction of the Roki pass, which links South Ossetia with Russia’s North Ossetian Republic. This convoy of Russian citizens was heading from Tskhinvali to North Ossetia after participating in celebrations dedicated to the unrecognized republic’s ‘independence day’ in Tskhinvali on September 20.

The Georgian television stations broadcasted footage showing Chief of Staff of the Georgian Armed Forces Levan Nikolaishvili talking with this group of Russian citizens and asking them to present their Georgian entry visas. “You do not have Georgian visas? Did you applied for entry visas at the Georgian Foreign Ministry when you arrived here? Why haven’t you applied?” Nikolaishvili asked the Russian citizens.

Commander of Joint Peacekeeping Forces Maj. Gen. Marat Kulakhmetov, who appeared on the scene a few minutes after the convoy was stopped, was trying to convince the Georgian officials that blocking the road in the conflict zone was a violation of agreements reached by the conflicting sides.

“The arrival of the Georgian Defense Minister has increased tensions in the conflict zone,” he told reporters.

The convoy of the Russian citizens was allows to continue moving towards North Ossetia only after two hours of negotiations.

“Now we have let them go. It was an expression of our good will. They were just several aides to Russian parliamentarians… We will try to find more interesting persons, like [Alexey] Mitrofanov [Russian MP from the Liberal Democratic Party], also [Sergey] Bagapsh [the President of breakaway Abkhazia, who was also visiting Tskhinvali],” Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili told the reporters.

“This was the last time we will express good will. We will eradicate this kind of illegal movement on our territory. These people infiltrate here like thieves,” Okruashvili added.

‘Independence’ Celebrations

These two incidents in the conflict zone coincided with celebrations which were underway in Tskhinvali on September 20 marking the 15th anniversary of South Ossetia’s de facto secession from Georgia. A military parade in Tskhinvali, as well as the presence of officials from neighboring Russia triggered protests from Tbilisi.

A military parade in Tskhinvali was attended by delegations from breakaway Abkhazia, led by Abkhaz leader Sergey Bagapsh, as well as by officials from Transdnestria and Nagorno-Karabakh. Russian parliamentarians Konstantin Zatuli and Mikhail Markelov, as well as President of Russia’s Karachaevo-Cherkessia, Mustafa Batdyev, were also among the invited guest.

Two days earlier, on September 18, Leader of Russia’s North Ossetian Republic Teimuraz Mamsurov and South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity signed a bilateral agreement in Tskhinvali saying that North and South Ossetia aspire “to preserve the unity of the Ossetian people.”

These developments in Tskhinvali triggered the Georgian Foreign Ministry, Parliamentary Chairperson and State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues to make separate statements condemning Russia’s role.

“The Georgian Foreign Ministry estimates the moves by the North Ossetian leader as an unfriendly step [taken by] the Russian side, which backs separatism in the region,” reads a statement issued by the Georgian Foreign Ministry on September 21.

Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Giorgi Khaindrava and Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze mainly focused on the military parade which was held in Tskhinvali, with the participation of tanks and armored vehicles. Established ceasefire agreements ban the presence of heavy armament in the conflict zone.

“The military parade in Tskhinvali was a violation of all agreements, which have been signed since 1992 – it was a celebration of illegality, a humiliation of the world community and ignorance of the peacekeeping forces,” Nino Burjanadze, Parliamentary Chairperson, said at a news conference on September 20.

State Minister Khaindrava said that presence of military hardware in Tskhinvali indicates that the Russian peacekeepers in the conflict zone are incapable of preventing a violation of agreements. “We should put forward issue of change of the current mandate of the peacekeeping operation,” Khaindrava said at a news conference on September 20.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Georgian parliamentary Committee for Defense and Security Givi Targamadze announced on September 21 that the Georgian side plans to convene an international conference on South Ossetia to discuss a peace solution to this conflict. This kind of conference was already held once, in June, by the Georgia authorities, but no progress has been observed in the process of confidence building between the two sides since then.