Kokoity Speaks of Peace Process
South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity, who is currently visiting Moscow, said on October 4 that the South Ossetian side will be able to defend its independence on its own, even if the Russian peacekeepers pull out of the region, but added that a withdrawal of the peacekeepers will be possible only after a complete settlement of the conflict.
The Georgian Parliament plans to pass a draft resolution next week instructing the government to take measures to prepare a withdrawal of the Russian peacekeepers from the country if the peacekeeping forces? performance does not improve before February, 2006 in South Ossetia.
?In the event that agreements on a peaceful resolution [of South Ossetian conflict] are denounced by the Georgian side, the South Ossetian army will be instructed to provide safety for our population,? Kokoity said at a news conference held at the Interfax news agency?s office on October 4.
At the same time, the South Ossetian leader stressed that a pullout of Russian peacekeepers and changing the format of the quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC) ?is not a competence of [Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Giorgi] Khaindrava and [Georgian President] Saakashvili. It is the competence of all the four sides.?
The JCC involves Georgia, South Ossetia, Russia and Russia?s North Ossetian Republic and was set up to oversee a 1992 ceasefire agreement in South Ossetia.
Kokoity also said that Georgia aims at ?driving Russia out of the South Caucasus? by forcing Russian peacekeepers out of the South Ossetian and Abkhaz conflict zones.
Kokoity noted that the only way to avoid military confrontation is to continue the current peacekeeping operation and to increase the role of the JCC through the involvement of officials with more authority.
The South Ossetian leader also criticized the western states for supporting Saakashvili?s administration, which Kokoity described as an ?aggressor.?
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