Saakashvili: U.S. Plans to Propose New Peace Initiatives

President Saakashvili told Reuters on October 20 that the United States plans to propose new peace initiatives in December to help Georgia peacefully resolve the Abkhaz and South Ossetian conflicts.

He said these new initiatives will be presented at the annual OSCE Ministerial Council, which is scheduled for December 5-6 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

“For the first time in post-Soviet history, the U.S. will be part of the peace-making process – will be part of the negotiations,” Mikheil Saakashvili said.

“[The U.S. role] is something very crucial to us, not because the Americans can solve it alone? It means … (we have) somebody at the table who could basically convince … Russia that peace-making pays off … we are working closely with the Americans on our peace plan and with the Russians on our peace plan,” Saakashvili added.

“What is most dangerous is to keep any of these situations frozen,” he said and added that popular discontent in Georgia over separatism, which has fueled calls for military action to recapture the breakaway regions, would die away if international mediators could show progress toward peace.

In the interview Saakashvili also called on the European Union for more active involvement in the peace process to solve conflicts in South Ossetian and Abkhazia.

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