24-03-2006
Abkhazia: Deeper EU Engagement in South Caucasus Conflicts
The future of the South Caucasus hinges on the sound resolution of its
ethnic conflicts, said the U.S. Under Secretary of State for Europe
and Eurasia on a recent visit to Yerevan.
“The countries will lead a peaceful lifestyle and they will define
their place in the world without any pressure,” said Daniel Freed,
according to Regnum.
But some analysts are less optimistic. It is impossible to resolve the
conflicts in the near future, they say, though the will to do so
should intensify.
Russia has long been the main “peacekeeper” in the South Caucasus. But
with little progress in the past 12 years of negotiations, hopes for a
brighter future have thinned since the 1990s.
Even the West is troubled by the conflicts in the South Caucasus,
perceiving them as a potential threat to regional security and taking
a more active role in their settlement. But the European Union has
been more cautious than the Americans.
In a recent report on “Conflict Resolution in the South Caucasus: The
EU’s Role,” the International Crisis Group (ICG) called for greater
involvement on the part of the European Union, which has an interest
in South Caucasus security, it argues. For an outbreak of war on the
periphery of Europe could spread to involve its core, reports Regnum.
According to Director Sabine Freizer of the ICG Caucasus Program,
Brussels became involved in the South Caucasus conflicts only
recently. The UN is actively engaged in Abkhazia and the OSCE in South
Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
The European Union can do more: not only can it serve as a mediator,
but it can encourage cooperation among the parties by offering deeper
integration into its structures.
“The European Union tries to define its role in new neighborhood where
there is neither peace nor war,” says Director Nicholas Whyte of the
ICG Europe Program. If the EU can’t develop a strategy for South
Caucasus security, argues Director Whyte, then it will lose regional
credibility. Worse still is the possibility of a war breaking out for
which the EU had no effective response.
Why should the EU grow more active in the South Caucasus? For
starters, to ward off the impending threat of conflict. But also, as
several European analysts note, to promote democracy and lasting
political stability.
The EU has other interests in the South Caucasus: access to Caspian
oil and natural gas, reliable communication between Europe and Asia,
and the suppression of drug trafficking, human trafficking and
environmental protection.
While Georgia often tries to distance itself from its South Caucasus
neighbors in its case for joining the EU, European analysts cast doubt
on the accession of any South Caucasus states. Nonetheless, the EU
must recalibrate its approach. It must embrace the action plan of the
European Neighborhood Policy and set out to resolve the South Caucasus
conflicts.
EU strategy should aim to promote a united and strong South
Caucasus. This could lay the groundwork for the peaceful resolution of
South Caucasus conflicts.
While South Caucasus states remain disunited, and local analysts rule
out any future federation, the EU could use the “Stability Pact for
the Caucasus” as the basis of its conflict resolution policy.
Regional cooperation grows more urgent with time – the South Caucasus
cannot escape this.
1991-2006 UNPO – Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization
_Source: The Messenger_
( 5_march_23_2006/opi_1075.htm)