 |
| Last month Russia also pushed the issue of suspension of the OSCE border monitoring mission in Georgia. Up to 150 unarmed OSCE observers have been monitoring Ingush, Chechen and Daghestani sections of the Georgian-Russian border since 1999. |
A statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Saturday reads that Georgia’s proposal to the increase number of OSCE observers in South Ossetia “is unrealistic.” “This kind of proposals aims at switching the attention from the major problem and hinders reaching decisions that would really foster putting an end to the escalation of tensions in the region,” the statement reads.
Moscow said that the increase in the number of observers “will not increase the efficiency of the OSCE’s activity” in the region. “Unbiased assessment of the situation is essential and not the increase in the number of observers,” the Russian Foreign Ministry’s statement reads.
Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili urged the OSCE to increase its role in the South Ossetian conflict resolution issues at a session of the organization’s decision-making body Permanent Council, which normally makes decisions by consensus, in Vienna on July 29.
Particularly Tbilisi wants the OSCE to monitor the Roki Pass linking breakaway South Ossetia with Russia’s North Ossetian Republic and the Java district of the self-styled republic near the Russian border.
Roki Pass and the Java district are the most troubling issues for Tbilisi. The Georgian side blames Russia for providing arms to the breakaway region via the tunnel at Roki Pass, while Java serves as a major stronghold for the South Ossetian militias. Java is located in the northern part of the South Ossetia and is out of the conflict zone, which only covers a 15-kilometer radius territory from the center of Tskhinvali.
Georgia’s initiative to increase OSCE’s role in South Ossetia was welcomed by the United States.
U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE Minikes Stephan told the Permanant Council in Vienna on July 29 that the United States strongly supports the work of the OSCE Mission in Georgia, as well as the Georgian government’s proposal to expand the mission’s mandate so it can “continue to play an even more active and productive role in the settlement process.”
“We stand willing to work with the Government of Georgia and other key interested parties and participating States to come to agreement early this fall on how best to amend the mandate of the OSCE Mission in Georgia so as to promote greater stability in South Ossetia,” Ambassador Minikes added.
The OSCE Mission in Georgia has been working with the conflicting parties and the international community on ways of defining the political status of South Ossetia within Georgia since 1992.
It monitors the tripartite – the Georgian, Russian and North Ossetian – peacekeeping forces deployed in the region, liaises with the quadripartite Joint Control Commission, involving the Georgian, South Ossetian, Russian and North Ossetian sides, and collects information on the military situation in the conflict zone.
Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Goga Khaindrava said in an interview with Civil Georgia that Georgia’s cooperation with OSCE “is rather constructive.” “We want more active involvement by OSCE than exists now in conflict resolution. However, it is worth noting that Russia always tries to downplay OSCE’s role in conflict resolution,” he added.
Meanwhile, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, the Bulgarian Foreign Minister, Solomon Passy, who condemned the overnight shootouts in the conflict zone on July 30, which left several people wounded from on both sides, invited the conflicting parties to Sofia for a meeting at a high political level to discuss measures to achieve resolution of the conflict.