Georgia Says No to JCC Format in South Ossetia

Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Giorgi Khaindrava said in Moscow that the current peace format in frames of the quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC) is ineffective and Georgia will seek a new format for peace talks, as well as a new arrangement for the peacekeeping operation in the South Ossetian conflict zone.

Khaindrava was speaking at a news conference held at the Interfax news agency?s office on September 29 after talks with Russian officials. Khaindrava, who was accompanied in Moscow by Secretary of the Georgian National Security Council Gela Bezhuashvili, met with Secretary of Russian Security Council Igor Ivanov on September 28.

?I think we will not return to the JCC format? Maybe it will not happen today, but [it will happen] apparently tomorrow,? Khaindrava said as quoted by the Interfax. He represents the Georgian side in the JCC.

He described the JCC format as ?absolutely unfair.? ?Three sides ? Russia, South Ossetia and North Ossetia ? are represented at the negotiating table against us,? he added.

The JCC is the major arrangement for the conflicting sides to negotiate over the past decade. The JCC involves Georgian, South Ossetian, Russian and Russia?s North Ossetian sides, and was set up to oversee a 1992 ceasefire agreement in South Ossetia.

Moscow, as well as the South Ossetian side, says that the JCC should be the only format for peace talks. But the South Ossetian side has recently pushed the issue ?to increase the status of the JCC? meaning that the commission should be set up by the officials with more authority.

Giorgi Khaindrava also said at the news conference in Moscow that the OSCE is also involved in the peace process, but it?s ?role is very minimal.? The OSCE, through its branch office in the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali and its monitors there, helps gather information on the military situation in the conflict zone, as well as examines violations of the cease-fire agreement.

The Georgian State Minister said that the OSCE, as well as the EU should play a more decisive role in the peace process.

He also said that the U.S. participation in the South Ossetian peace process ?is currently on the agenda and we hope that this will happen.?

Khaindrava also criticized the current peacekeeping format in the conflict zone. The Joint Peacekeeping Forces (JPF) stationed in the conflict zone is composed of three battalions: two battalions are composed of Georgian and Russian servicemen. The third battalion is also composed of Russian citizens, but only those who are from Russia?s North Ossetian Republic.

Khaindrava suggested that the North Ossetian peacekeeping battalion should not be represented in the peacekeeping operations.

He said that internationalization of the peacekeeping operation is also under consideration in Tbilisi, but added that ?it is too early? to talk about a possible withdrawal of the Russian peacekeepers from the conflict zone.

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