JCC Agrees to Set up Joint Working Group

During the two-day session of the quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC), involving the Georgian, South Ossetian, Russian and Russia’s North Ossetian sides, in Tskhinvali on May 11-12, the sides agreed to set up a joint working group which will develop a joint program on South Ossetian conflict resolution.

According to the press office of the Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues, a ten-member group from the Georgian side will be led by Deputy State Minister Giorgi Volski.

The South Ossetian side will be led by Vice Speaker of the South Ossetian Parliament Yuri Dzitsoiti, while the Russian side will be led by Secretary of the Russian co-chairman in the JCC Alexander Grachov, the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee reported. The representatives from North Ossetia and the OSCE will also participate in the group’s activities.

The sides also agreed over the mechanisms for monitoring the distribution of Euro 10 million, which will be allocated by the European Union for the economic rehabilitation of the South Ossetian conflict zone. An international donors conference, scheduled for June 14 in Brussels, will discuss the economic rehabilitation program and make a final decision on financing this program.

The sides also agreed to hold a meeting between the Georgian and South Ossetian Interior Ministers before June 10, while a date for a meeting between Education Ministers will be set in the near future.

Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Giorgi Khaindrava said on May 12 that the Georgian side rejected the proposal over development of a new document on non-resumption of hostilities, which, as he put it, is “Moscow’s initiative.”

“They decided to develop a separate document on non-resumption of hostilities… We [the Georgian side] have already developed a peace plan over South Ossetia and our position is absolutely clear. We also support the elaboration of a joint program, based on our peace plan – this is the greatest guarantee,” Khaindrava told reporters following the JCC session, adding that “all those new initiatives and plans are written in Moscow.”

“This [JCC] is not a place where Moscow’s initiatives are being discussed. We need a guarantee that the process of annexation will not continue and this guarantee should be given by Russia. No other documents will be accepted here,“ he said.

The Georgian State Minister also said that Russia’s moves do not lay the ground for discussing Russia as a guarantor of stability and a mediator in the conflict. “I think the Georgians and Ossetians are able to settle their problems themselves,” he added.

Meanwhile, the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee reported on May 12 that Teimuraz Kusov, who represented Russia’s North Ossetian side in the JCC, resigned. Deputy Chief of the North Ossetian President’s Administration Murat Tkhostov has replaced him.