OSCE Chairman Condemns Threats Against Observers in S.Ossetia

An incident involving South Ossetian militia threatening peacekeepers and unarmed OSCE observers with guns ?is serious and unacceptable,? OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said on May 9.

The OSCE observers and a patrol of Joint Peacekeeping Forces (JPKF) were threatened when they discovered an anti-aircraft gun, a Zu-23-2, and a hand held air defense weapon, a Strela-2, while monitoring the area between the villages of Nikozi and Avnevi in the South Ossetian conflict zone on May 7.

Three armed men, who identified themselves as South Ossetian militia, were guarding the weapons. They prevented the observers from monitoring the site by firing shots in the air, according to the JPKF.

?The violence used during this occasion is particularly condemned,? Moratinos said.

The South Ossetian Press and Information Committee posted a statement from a JPKF spokesman on its website on May 9. He said that the JPKF and OSCE observers had carried out repeat monitoring and recovered a Zu-23-2 anti-aircraft gun near the Ossetian village of Tsnelisi on May 8. The gun was seized and transferred to the JPKF headquarters in Tskhinvali, according to the statement.

On May 9, Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Merab Antadze also condemned the incident.

He also said that a mortar shell was fired from Tskhinvali last night in the direction of the Georgian village of Nikozi, causing no casualties.

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