Parliament to Set Performance Deadline to Russian Peacekeepers

Georgian Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze said on September 29 that lawmakers in the country have developed a draft resolution instructing the Georgian government to take measures to prepare a withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from the South Ossetian and Abkhazian conflict zone if the peacekeeping forces? performance does not improve before February, 2006 and July, 2006 in South Ossetia and Abkhazia respectively.

She said that the Parliament wants this resolution to be discussed publicly, pending a vote, which will take place at the soonest parliamentary session. 

?If the Russian Federation does not undertake concrete measures to make tangible progress in fulfilling the mandate of the peacekeeping forces, we will demand that the Georgian government report to the Parliament about the situation by February 10, 2006 and in the event that the case is assessed negatively the Georgian Parliament will launch procedures and demand the withdrawal of the Russian peacekeeping forces from the Georgian territory [South Ossetian conflict zone],? Nino Burjanadze said at a news conference in Tbilisi.

She said that the same formulation will be reflected in the resolution in respect of the Russian peacekeeping forces stationed in the Abkhaz conflict zone.

?We have reiterated [in the draft resolution] that we are ready to undertake constructive steps and that is why we have set July 1 [2006] as the deadline. By that time the government must report to the Parliament what kind of real and tangible steps have been taken towards making progress in the [Abkhaz] conflict zone. If the process is not assessed positively before July 1 [2006] by the Parliament, the Parliament will demand that current peacekeeping operation in Abkhazia be stopped, starting from July 15 [2006], as well as denunciation of the relevant international agreements,? Nino Burjanadze said.

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