POLAND CONCERNED OVER GEORGIA
Poland.pl
2008-08-11, 12:24
The armed clash between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia
has alarmed Polish authorities and public opinion alike. Besides
declarations of sympathy and solidarity with Georgia, Poland and
its people are undertaking concrete steps to defuse the conflict and
render assistance to the victims of the aggression.
Following a series of wide consultations with government and foreign
partners over the weekend Polish president Lech Kaczynski has sent
a special envoy to Tbilisi to present a detailed peace plan he has
discussed with his Lithuanian and Ukrainian opposite numbers. Just
before departure for the Georgian capital Piotr Kownacki, who is
the deputy head of the Presidential Chancellary, told reporters that
the primary intention of this international initiative is bringing
true peacekeeping forces into Georgia: ‘It’s grotesque and ironic
in the present situation that it is the Russian forces which are the
peacekeepers there. In the face of Russian aggression against Georgia
this simply cannot be continued. The plan envisages international
presence under European Union auspices.’
While in Tbilisi, the Polish envoy is to meet with Georgian president
Saakashvili and that country’s foreign minister and possibly with the
French head of diplomacy who has a similar mission both in Tbilisi
and Moscow.
Mariusz Handzlik, another official of the Presidential Chancellary in
Warsaw, added that the presidents of Poland and other Baltic states
have not excluded visiting Georgia should such need arise from the
nearest developments.
Meanwhile, a group of 96 people have been evacuated from conflict
threatened Tbilisi by bus to Erevan in neighboring Armenia and then
transported on board a Polish government plane. Landing in Warsaw
early Monday morning, they told reporters at the airport: ‘Each
person received an SMS with the time and place of evacuation… I
have a French passport, so I went to the French embassy. They told
me to come the next day… Now I’m calm, I’m home… I’m here, but
my family is still there.’
The group comprised mostly Poles, but it also included 8 Czechs
and two other nationals. They all praised the exemplary manner in
which Polish consular services in Tbilisi handled the situation:
‘The Polish embassy did a really fine job. It extended help not only
to Polish citizens, but to all who asked for assistance regardless
whether they were Czech, French, German or other European nationals.’
The Polish government plane is departing on two more evacuation
missions to the region still on Monday.
Polish Red Cross (PCK) representatives were waiting for the evacuees
from Georgia ready to help the tormented people, Marcin Rudnicki told
our Radio Information Agency reporter: ‘The Red Cross in Poland has
considerable experience in such actions, to recall the evacuation
of Polish citizens from Lebanon two years ago. We have pledged all
necessary medical and psychological assistance fro those returning
from Georgia. We are ready to work with state administration services
as well as the interior and foreign ministries in this operation.’
The Polish Humanitarian Organization (PAH) was also quick to react.
Its leader Janina Ochojska says the famous Polish NGO with 7 years
of experience in Chechnya will be targetting – on the spot – all
those who need help in South Ossetia: ‘We are preparing to assist
Georgian citizens and that means Georgians and Ossetians, because
we’re thinking about both sides of the conflict. I’m still hoping
for a stop to the war actions so that the help needed will be limited
to organizing their return home and clearing the destruction. I wish
for that very much. We’ll be following the developments there.’
Not only organizations in Poland have been responding to the tragedy
of the military conflict in Georgia. Individual gestures of sympathy
for the Georgian cause have been manifested by Poles in front of
the Embassy of the Republic of Georgia in Warsaw. Participants of a
rally have written a letter of support and handed it to the diplomatic
officials: ‘We want to encourage Georgians not to surrender. The world
shares their grief. Even if not all politicians have voiced support, or
have given too little of it, we are strongly with the Georgian people.’
In response to the letter of support the Georgian embassy in Warsaw
has stated that the Russian attack is an attempt at punishing the
country for its western oriented and pro-Atlantic aspirations.