U.S. Urges Progress in Resolving South Ossetia, Abkhazia Conflicts

U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE Julie Finley said on October 13 at the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, that the United States wants to see more progress in resolving the Abkhaz and South Ossetian conflicts, the U.S. Department of State?s Bureau of International Information Programs reported on October 14.
 
?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,? Ambassador Julie Finley said.
 
Ambassador Finley also condemned the shelling of South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali on September 20, which resulted in a number of civilian injuries.  She reiterated that the U.S. supports a resolution of the conflict ?exclusively through peaceful means.?
 
She also condemned the military parade in the South Ossetian conflict zone, which marked the breakaway region?s independence day, saying that ?bringing these weapons into the conflict zone 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 major road in the South Ossetian conflict zone – the Transcaucasus Highway – and called on both sides to refrain from undertaking actions that violate existing agreements and complicate efforts to promote a settlement of 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.?
 
Ambassador Finley also commented regarding the Abkhazian conflict, calling on the conflicting sides for redoubled efforts.

She 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.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)