Georgian Foreign Minister Calls for Prompt Change of JPKF Mandate

Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili said while addressing the OSCE Permanent Council on February 9 that it would have been “more logical” to include only Russian and Georgian battalions in the Joint Peacekeeping Forces (JPKF) stationed in the conflict zone and to expand the JPKF’s area of responsibility.

Currently, the JPKF includes three battalions – from Russia, Georgia and Ossetia – and its area of responsibility does not cover two vitally important territories: the Java district, which is regarded as a stronghold for the South Ossetian militias and the Roki Pass, which links breakaway South Ossetia with neighboring Russia’s North Ossetian Republic. Tbilisi claims that the Roki Pass is a main route for arms trafficking and smuggling in the region.

“In South Ossetia, we are also very concerned about the effectiveness of the JPKF. It would have been logical and understandable to include only Georgian and Russian peacekeepers in its composition. At the same time, prior agreements should be implemented. These include expanding its area of activities to the whole region of South Ossetia, establishing permanent and transparent control over the Roki tunnel, and providing conditions for free movement and monitoring by the OSCE inspectors. Once demilitarization is accomplished, the JPKF should be replaced by joint policing activities by Georgians and our South Ossetian compatriots,” Gela Bezhuashvili told the OSCE Permanent Council.

He said that these measures are “critica,l” as Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli plans to report to the Georgian Parliament soon about whether the JPKF is fulfilling its obligations.

“If these proposed steps are successful, then the Prime Minister would be in a position to report improvements to the Parliament in the performance of the JPKF and in the situation in general. Alternately, should the Parliament conclude that the Russian Peacekeepers should leave the Tskhinvali Region [breakaway South Ossetia], the Government of Georgia will remain determined to implement the Peace Plan. And hereby I need to make it very clear: the implementation of our plan does not depend on the presence of peacekeepers,” Bezhuashvili stated.

In a response to this statement by the Georgian Foreign Minister, U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE Julie Finley said that Georgia should show caution while making a decision about the peacekeepers in South Ossetia. She said the demand that the Russian peacekeeping troops withdraw from the South Ossetian conflict zone “without anything in their place may be destabilizing.”