Breakaway South Ossetia has been quiet since August 20, after Georgian forces not part of the peacekeeping troops stationed there pulled out from the conflict zone; but peace is still very fragile as both conflicting sides have failed to shape a lasting political settlement of the conflict.
The Georgian side has already accused the authorities of the self-styled republic of building up military forces, reportedly launched after the pullback of the Georgian troops from the conflict zone.
Georgian State Minister Goga Khaindrava, who is in charge of the conflict resolution issues, demanded to hold an emergency session of the quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC), which monitors peace in the conflict zone.
In a letter sent on August 23 to the co-chairman of the JCC, a committee that involves Georgia, Russia, South Ossetia and North Ossetia, Goga Khaindrava says that South Ossetian militias have “launched the digging of trenches and strengthening of their positions near the villages of Dampleti, Kvemo Monasteri, Kverneti, Prisi and Khelchua.”
The Georgian State Minister also expresses his concern regarding, as Khaindrava put it, “the anti-Georgian and aggressive rhetoric of the de facto authorities” in the breakaway republic.
Thus far no response has followed from the Russian, South Ossetian, or North Ossetian sides regarding Tbilisi’s request for an emergency session of the JCC.
According to Khaindrava, Tbilisi is still pushing three top priorities regarding South Ossetia. “Active involvement by international organizations, demilitarization of the conflict zone and direct talks with the de facto authorities [of breakaway region] – these are the Georgian government’s top priorities at the moment,” Goga Khaindrava told reporters on August 23 after talks with Heikki Talvitie, the European Union’s special envoy to the South Caucasus countries.
This envoy will visit the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali, on August 24 and hold talks with the separatist leader Eduard Kokoev. “The conflict should be solved only through peaceful means,” Heikki Talvitie told reporters after meeting with Russian Ambassador to Georgia Vladimir Chkhikvishvili in Tbilisi.
Georgian Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze, who met with Head of the OSCE Mission to Georgia Ambassador Roy Reeve on August 23, also said that more international involvement is needed for the settlement of the South Ossetian conflict.
“We want to solve the problem peacefully, but we need huge support from the international community for this,” Nino Burjanadze told reporters after her talks with the OSCE representative.
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili reiterated, on August 23, that Georgia is determined to solve the South Ossetian conflict peacefully. “Georgian needs no large-scale conflict, as we need stability and strengthening [of the country],” Saakashvili said in an interview with Rustavi 2 television on August 23.
“The western powers, and we, want to use all possible peaceful ways in order to solve the problem. And these possibilities still remain at the moment,” he added.
On August 19 President Saakashvili said that he will give one “last chance for peace” and decided to pullback Georgia’s extra troops from the conflict zone, dispatched there at end of May under the pretext of fighting smuggling.
The withdrawal of troops, demanded by the South Ossetian and Russian sides, has led to the stoppage of week-long overnight clashes that left dozens of soldiers dead from the both sides. The South Ossetian side welcomed Tbilisi’s decision to pull out its troops; however they also described the move as “a retreat after a failed attempt to take over Tskhinvali [capital of the breakaway republic].”
President Saakashvili denied that the decision to withdraw Georgia’s extra troops from breakaway South Ossetian was caused by the failure in the fighting that erupted in the conflict zone on August 12.
Mikheil Saakashvili said in an interview to Rustavi 2, that the pullout of troops “strengthened Georgia’s positions in its attempt to solve the conflict with peaceful means.”
The extra Georgian troops, which were pulled back, are now stationed in the central Georgian town of Gori, just 15 km away from Tskhinvali. Georgian authorities are threatening to send them back if hostilities are renewed in the region.
At the moment, joint peacekeeping forces, involving Georgian, Ossetian and Russian soldiers, together with observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are monitoring the conflict zone, especially the villages of Eredvi and Tlianakana, which have served as flashpoints during the recent skirmishes.
Meanwhile, the fragile peace has enabled the Georgian authorities to resume its humanitarian activities in the breakaway region. For the first time in weeks the Georgian authorities have been able to deliver flour to the Georgian villages of Didi Liakhvi gorge, north of Tskhinvali, via the separatists’ capital. According to the agreement, the conflicting sides should not prevent free movement of people and humanitarian aid in the conflict zone.