Saakashvili to Meet S.Ossetian Alternative Leader

President Saakashvili will meet South Ossetian alternative leader Dimitri Sanakoev in the next few days to strike a deal on a provisional administrative entity, Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze said on May 4.

She traveled to the village of Kurta in the South Ossetian conflict zone and met with Sanakoev on May 4.

?In the next few days a meeting will take place between Sanakoev and President Saakashvili to prepare an agreement which will become the basis for future cooperation and for the creation of a provisional administrative entity [in South Ossetia],? Burjanadze said at a news conference in Tbilisi.

?I am sure that the initiative [on the provisional administrative entity] will help us to solve the conflict through peaceful and political means very soon,? she added.

She also noted that Sanakoev and his team have ?a clear vision about what the Georgian and Ossetian people need.?

Burjanadze also reiterated Tbilisi?s readiness to hold talks with the South Ossetian secessionist authorities in Tskhinvali, led by Eduard Kokoity.

?But Kokoity not only refused to meet with us, he also barred us from moving through Tskhinvali and we had to reach [the village of Kurta to meet Sanakoev] through back roads? The time will come very soon when no one will dare to block roads on Georgian territory,? Burjanadze said.

She also said that Sanakoev and his administration have assumed ?huge responsibility to represent and defend the interests of the population of this region within a united Georgian state.?
 
Representatives of both opposition and ruling parties have already held several meetings with Sanakoev.

Talks between Saakashvili and Sanakoev, the culmination of these meetings, are expected to result in Sanakoev?s nomination as the head of a provisional administration of South Ossetia. Its creation was endorsed by Parliament in April.

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