OSCE Chairman-in-Office Visits Tskhinvali

After talks in Tbilisi, OSCE Chairman-in-Office, the Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht arrived in South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali on June 23 to hold talks with the leadership of unrecognized republic.

Karel De Gucht who arrived in Tbilisi on June 22 discussed South Ossetia during talks with Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili.

Meanwhile a group of local residents of the Ossetian village of Zemo Prisi decided to temporarily wrap-up a protest rally outside the OSCE field office in Tskhinvali, which was launched on June 22, the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee reported. Protesters were demanding OSCE”s assistance in removing Georgian police post, which was repositioned closer to the village on June 14.

Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Giorgi Khaindrava said on June 22 that protesters were blocking the OSCE filed office, which could have thwarted visit of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office in Tskhinvali.

The South Ossetian Press and Information Committee reported on June 23 that protesters decided “to remove blockade” after the Georgian side pledged to dismantle their police post near Zemo Prisi.

“Blockade will be resumed if the police post is not removed by the noon [on June 23],” the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee reported.

According to the office of Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues, Georgian Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili and his South Ossetian “counterpart” Mikhail Mindzaev could reach a verbal agreement during the talks in Tskhinvali on June 22 that the Georgian side will remove its police post near Zemo Prisi, while the South Ossetian side will dismantle its police post near the Georgian village of Avnevi within one week.

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