usinfo.state.gov
14 October 2005
Progress Urged in Resolving South Ossetia, Abkhazia Conflicts
U.S. Ambassador Julie Finley addresses OSCE Permanent Council
By Jeffrey Thomas
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington — The United States wants to see more progress made in resolving
the conflicts over Georgia’s South Ossetia and Abkhazia regions, a U.S.
envoy told the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in
Vienna, Austria, October 13.
“The United States believes the time has come to work together with new
energy to achieve, through peaceful negotiations, an agreement on an
autonomous status for South Ossetia within a unified Georgia,” said
Ambassador Julie Finley, the permanent U.S. representative to the OSCE.
Finley urged the sides to take practical steps towards resolving their
differences on the Abkhazian conflict as well, whether through economic
cooperation projects or through facilitating the return of displaced people
to their homes.
Both the South Ossetian and Abkhazian conflicts resulted in open warfare
after the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, although both
conflicts’ historical origins lie much earlier.
South Ossetia, an autonomous political subdivision of Georgia in the Soviet
Union, declared independence (within the Soviet Union) in September 1990,
with armed conflict beginning in January 1991 and continuing until June
1992. Georgia, having declared independence in April 1991, signed a
cease-fire agreement with Russian and South Ossetian representatives. (See
related fact sheet.)
The United States welcomed Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s proposal
in January for an autonomous status for South Ossetia within Georgia and
continues to look for ways to support the sides in developing a lasting
resolution of the conflict through peaceful means.
Abkhazia is a region of northwestern Georgia on the Black Sea coast that was
an independent Soviet Socialist Republic (S.S.R.) until 1931 and then an
autonomous republic of the Georgian S.S.R. Armed conflict began in August
1992 when Georgian troops were deployed to Abkhazia and ended after the
Abkhaz side captured the Abkhaz capital city of Sukhumi on September 27,
1993. Most of the Georgian population of Abkhazia fled or forcibly was
expelled as a result of the conflict. (See related fact sheet.)
In her remarks to the OSCE, Finley responded to reports to the council by
the head of the OSCE Mission in Georgia, Ambassador Roy Stephen Reeve, and
the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative in Georgia, Teidi
Tagliavini.
The OSCE Mission in Georgia has a mandate to promote negotiations between
the conflicting parties, assist the Georgian government in fulfilling its
OSCE commitments on human rights, rule of law and democratization, and
provide regular analyses and reports on developments in the region.
The United Nations has chaired negotiations toward a settlement since 1993,
and the United States wants the sides to make progress within this U.N.
framework in areas such as human rights, civilian policing and the return of
internally displaced persons.
In addition, the OSCE chairman has a personal representative for Georgia,
Mircea Geoana, a former Romanian foreign minister who served as OSCE chair
in 2001. Geoana visited Georgia in early October, calling on the Georgian
and South Ossetian sides to reopen dialogue, calm existing tensions and
proceed with demilitarization.
In her October 13 statement, Finley deplored the shelling of civilian houses
in Tskhinvali, South Ossetia, on September 20, which resulted in a number of
civilian injuries. She reiterated U.S. support for a resolution of the
conflict “exclusively through peaceful means.”
“The United States also deplores the parade displaying heavy offensive
military equipment in the Zone of Conflict as part of South Ossetia’s
so-called independence celebration earlier the same day,” she said.
“Bringing these weapons into the Zone of Conflict constituted a clear
violation of the cease-fire agreement that should have been prevented by
parties in a position to do so.”
Finley also noted with concern the actions of the Georgian side,
specifically the use of Georgian peacekeeping forces to block the
Transcaucasus Highway in violation of existing agreements.
She called on all parties to refrain from actions that violate existing
agreements or exacerbate tensions, undermine trust, and complicate efforts
to promote a settlement to the conflict.
Finley urged Russia “to help avoid further tensions and to encourage a
direct dialogue, with the support of the international community, between
Tskhinvali and Tbilisi aimed at resolution of this long-standing conflict.”
Regarding the Abkhazian conflict, she called for redoubled efforts.
Both conflicts, the United States insists, must be resolved while respecting
Georgia’s territorial integrity.
The United States remains “optimistic that democratic political
consolidation in Georgia will succeed,” Finley said.
As Georgia’s government, parliament, civil society and media make the
transition from the turmoil, change and excitement of the country’s
democratic revolution in 2004 to the everyday details and challenges of
government, she added, “it is critical that human rights, media freedom, due
process, and the other standards and norms of the human dimension remain the
touchstones for success.”
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information
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