OSCE Chair’s Envoy Hails Tbilisi’s All-Inclusive Efforts in S.Ossetia

The OSCE welcomes recent Georgian initiatives to involve all parties in the South Ossetia conflict resolution process, José Borrell Fontelles, the OSCE chairman-in-office’s special envoy, said on July 26.
 
The special envoy was speaking at the conclusion of a three-day visit to Georgia, during which he held talks with officials in both Tbilisi and Tskhinvali.

He stressed “the need for full inclusiveness of all interested actors, and a considered pace of work,” according to an OSCE press release.

He also noted that the OSCE would follow the activities of the new state commission, chaired by Georgian PM Zurab Nogaideli, “with close interest.”

The commission has been tasked to negotiate with all the parties on South Ossetia’s autonomous status within the Georgian state. Secessionist authorities in Tskhinvali have, however, refused to participate. The Tbilisi-backed South Ossetian provisional administration, led by Dimitri Sanakoev, as expected, said it would be cooperating with the commission.

José Borrell Fontelles said that the OSCE wished to see full implementation of commitments to a peaceful resolution of the South Ossetian conflict.

At the same time, he welcomed Georgia’s readiness to participate “in the effective functioning of the existing negotiation mechanism” – a reference to the quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC).

“The forthcoming meeting of the JCC in Tbilisi is a positive move,” he said. “We are encouraged by the re-affirmations of commitments to peaceful resolution and dialogue between the sides.

However implementation of joint decisions on demilitarization of the zone of conflict, and joint policing, is yet to be achieved.”

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