Delivering South Ossetia?s independence aspiration internationally will be Tskhinvali?s top priority in 2007, the breakaway South Ossetian leadership said in its New Year address.
?Although the international community shows restraint towards recognizing our Republic, its [S.Ossetia’s] reputation has significantly increased and the independence referendum and presidential elections [of November 12, 2006] have demonstrated that our sovereign and democratic state is an existing fact,? South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity said on the New Year?s Eve, the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee reported on January 1.
Chairman of breakaway South Ossetian government Yuri Morozov said that 2007 will be ?very difficult year.?
?We should once again deliver the results of our referendum to the international community and to show them that there is no other way for the citizens of South Ossetia than to gain independence and join the Russian Federation,? Morozov said.
He also noted that 2007 should become the year of gaining energy independence from Georgia, as a new gas pipeline linking the breakaway region with the Russian Federation is expected to be put into operation.
Meanwhile, Georgian media sources reported that President Saakashvili is expected to arrive in the South Ossetian conflict zone and meet with the local population in the village of Tamarasheni on January 2. This Georgian-populated village is less than a kilometer away from the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali.
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