The Messenger, Georgia
March 17 2005

In Moscow, JCC renews demilitarization talks
Tskhinvali launches new attacks against OSCE presence
By Christina Tashkevich

State Minister on Conflict Negotiation Goga Khaindrava
Demilitarization of the Georgian-Ossetian border is one of the issued
set to be discussed at the meeting of the co-heads of the Joint
Control Commission (JCC) on March 16-17.

The meeting that opens in Wednesday in Moscow is the first meeting in
two months and comes after what officials say has been a “pause” in
the demilitarization process.

According to the South Ossetian representative to the JCC, Boris
Chochiev, in Moscow the sides will discuss “issues in the frame of
JCC negotiations and the meeting of the president of the
self-proclaimed South Ossetia Eduard Kokoiti and the late Georgian
Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania in Sochi last November.”

The Russian media quoted the State Minister on Conflict Negotiation
Goga Khaindrava who commented on the latest statements of the
President of Abkhazia Sergey Bagapsh. Khaindrava did not exclude that
he will meet with Bagapsh in Moscow.

Commenting on Bagapsh’s statement that the summit of four
unrecognized republics – Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh
(Azerbaijan) and Transdnestre (Moldova) – will be conveyed in the
near future, Khaindrava rejected it as “a creation of the separatist
movement.”

“I’m very offended that such politics continue and I think it would
not bring anything good for Russia as well,” said Khaindrava. He
added this issue would not be discussed during the JCC meeting.

In the meantime, the Committee on Information of South Ossetia blames
Georgian side in ignoring all decisions taken by the JCC. The South
Ossetian office has also increased its attacks on OSCE in the region
saying it does not contribute to the conflict settlement.

“The Tskhinvali office of the OSCE is a spy network in Georgia,
working against South Ossetia,” reads the Committee’s statement.

Last week Chochiev, who is also South Ossetia’s minister for
emergency situations, called for the head of the OSCE office in
Tskhinvali, Gancho Ganchev, to be withdrawn but noted at the time it
was not a move against the OSCE in general.

The head of the Russian side of the Commission Valery Kenyaikin told
Interfax on March 15 that the meeting of Kokoiti and the Georgian
Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli may continue the process of
fulfillment of agreements.

“But this will only make sense if the promises to follow a peaceful
way of conflict negotiation will be kept and if force is not used,”
he added.

Visiting Moscow on March 15, Abkhaz de facto president Sergei
Baghapsh announced that the leaders of the breakaway regions
Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transdnestre (Moldova) and Nagorno-Karabakh
(Azerbaijan) plan to hold a summit to coordinate their policies in
the near future.

Speaking at a press conference in the office of the Russian news
agency Interfax, Bagapsh told journalists that a date and place for
the joint meeting would be agreed on in the near future.

“Tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, we will decide when to hold
this meeting. It may be held in Moscow, or somewhere in the North
Caucasus,” Baghapsh said, adding that a meeting was necessary at the
present time particularly because of the current situation in South
Ossetia and Transdnestre.