Tbilisi Seeks Expansion of OSCE Activities in S.Ossetia

Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili said on July 24 that Georgia wants the OSCE to increase the number of its observers in South Ossetia so that the organization can expand its activities to cover the entire territory of the breakaway region including the Roki Tunnel, which links South Ossetia with Russia?s North Ossetian Republic.

Bezhuashvili was speaking at a news conference after talks with a visiting 13-member delegation from OSCE member states led by Ambassador Bertrand de Crombrugghe, head of the Belgian delegation to the OSCE.
 
?It is necessary to establish control of the Russian-Georgian border [including the Roki tunnel] in order to prevent the flow of weapons from Russia to this territory [South Ossetia],? Gela Bezhuashvili said.

The United States also recently called on the OSCE to expand its activities to cover all of breakaway South Ossetia ? a move which would most likely be opposed by Russia.
 
The OSCE delegation plans to visit breakaway South Ossetia and Abkhazia on July 25 and July 26, respectively.
 
?We are going to tell [the secessionist authorities] exactly what the OSCE?s position is on the territorial integrity of Georgia and on the need to sit at the negotiations table and discuss how to resolve the conflict. We also want to point out that self-determination is not a principle that means independence. You can have self-determination without having independence. We would also like to point out to them that they have wonderful opportunities ahead as a part of Georgia,? Ambassador Bertrand de Crombrugghe said.   
 
He said that the OSCE will help Georgia ?to do its utmost to cooperate in a frame of JCC [Joint Control Commission – the quadripartite negotiating body over South Ossetia] in order to lay the basis of a lasting settlement.?

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)