Associated Press Worldstream
September 13, 2006 Wednesday

EU voices concern about violence in southern Caucasus

A senior European Union official on Wednesday expressed alarm over
violence in the ex-Soviet Southern Caucasus, reaffirming that
conflicts in the region must be solved by peaceful means.

Peter Semneby, the European Union’s top envoy to the South Caucasus
region, voiced particular concern about the situation in Georgia,
where several people have been killed recently in clashes between
government forces and separatists from the breakaway province of
South Ossetia.

South Ossetia, which has close ties with Russia, is set to hold a
referendum on its independence in November, a move that has angered
Tbilisi.

Semneby reiterated that the EU would not recognize the referendum’s
result. "This referendum doesn’t help solving the conflict. The EU
recognizes Georgia’s integrity and that is why this referendum will
be of no importance to us," he said.

Semneby said Russia and the European Union should work together to
help solve conflicts in South Ossetia and another breakaway Georgian
province, Abkhazia, but hinted that Moscow’s recent ban on Georgian
wines and mineral water over alleged sanitary violations was
counterproductive.

"Georgian wines and Georgian mineral water are being imported to the
EU and we didn’t find any dangerous components in those products,"
Semneby said.

The Georgian government has accused Russia of backing separatists in
both rebel provinces, while the Kremlin accused Georgia of fanning up
tensions.

Turning to other ex-Soviet Caucasus nations, Armenia and Azerbaijan,
Semneby stressed the importance of moving forward in solving their
dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave inside Azerbaijan populated
largely by Armenians.