Water Crisis Remains Source for S.Ossetia Tensions

Authorities in breakaway South Ossetia have threatened to cut water supplies to Georgian villages if Tskhinvali’s supply isn’t restored by 3 pm local time, Sunday.

?If today by 3 pm our workers in cooperation with the Georgian side ? and we are not against their involvement ? are not allowed to repair the damaged water pipeline, we will have to cut [water supply] to the villages of the Gori district,? Boris Chochiev, chief South Ossetian negotiator, said at a news conference in Tskhinvali on June 3.

The South Ossetian side claims that Tbilisi is preventing Ossetian workers from repairing the damaged pipeline in the Georgian-controlled villages to the north of Tskhinvali.

As a result of this damage, which was caused initially by holes punched into the old pipeline for crop irrigation, and then exacerbated by storm-damage which caused it to break, Tskhinvali has been without potable water for nine days.

Tskhinvali and Moscow have already accused Tbilisi of using the water crisis for political gain, by trying to involve its loyal South Ossetian provisional administration, led by Dimitri Sanakoev, in the resolution of the problem. Tskhinvali and Moscow describe Sanakoev?s administration as Tbilisi?s ?puppet government? and refuse to cooperate with it.

?I’m telling you: Georgia is preparing for war? I can not blame personally Merab Antadze [the Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues], because he is not the one capable of solving the issue. Vano Merabishvili [the Georgian Interior Minister] is behind it,? Chochiev said at the news conference.

The Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues called on Tskhinvali on June 2 ?to give up its confrontational stance? and solve problems though dialogue ?with all the forces interested in peaceful resolution of the conflict? ? an apparent reference to Sanakoev?s administration.

Sanakoev told reporters in his newly opened office in Tbilisi on June 3, that the Tskhinvali-based authorities had deliberately triggered the water crisis.

?Tskhinvali wants to destabilize the situation in the region through ultimatums and intimidation? We will not react to these threats and ultimatums. We will continue our cautious policy and our work? The Georgian side has nothing to do with this [water] problem. The population should understand that [South Ossetian secessionist leader Eduard] Kokoity?s regime itself is using water to escalate tensions,? Sanakoev said.

The OSCE Mission to Georgia, which acts as a facilitator between the parties, called for the resolutionm of the current water crisis ?together as quickly as possible.?

?Given the humanitarian nature of this crisis I urge all sides to concentrate on the speedy resolution of this crisis in order that tension does not rise further,? Ambassador Roy Reeve, Head of the OSCE Mission, said on June 2.

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