JCC Agrees to Set up Commission over South Ossetia Peace Plan

During a session of the Joint Control Commission (JCC) in Vladikavkaz on March 27-28 the sides agreed to set up a 10-member working group to develop a joint action plan for the peaceful resolution of the South Ossetian conflict, the press office of the Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues reported.

In an information note issued on March 29 the Russian Foreign Ministry outlined the three major issues which the sides agreed upon during the JCC session:

1. to set up a working group on the development of an agreed program on a peaceful resolution of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict, in which the relative initiatives of the Georgian and South Ossetian sides will be taken into account;

2. to consider various ways for enhancing mutual confidence, including adoption of a declaration on security guarantees and non-use of force;

3. to continue working on the social-economic rehabilitation of the conflict zone in accordance with the December 23, 2000 Russian-Georgian intergovernmental agreement on interaction in rehabilitating the economy in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone and on the return of refugees and internally displaced persons, as well as to carry out need assessment measures in frames of the OSCE for rehabilitation of the conflict zone.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the JCC session was held “in a constructive atmosphere” which “has once again proved that the JCC remains the only really functioning mechanism for resolving the Georgian-Ossetian conflict.”