Tskhinvali Calls for Non-Use of Force Treaty with Tbilisi

The South Ossetian secessionist leader, Eduard Kokoity, said on August 8 he was ready to meet with Georgian President Saakashvili to sign a treaty on the non-use of force.

?Because of my respect for the Georgian people, I want to meet with the Georgian president and so give both the Ossetian and Georgian peoples a guarantee that hostilities will never be resumed between us,? Kokoity said at a news conference in Tskhinvali.

?No one wants war here,? he said. ?We are tired of it.?

Georgia has backed away from signing such a treaty, citing that it does not want Russia to be the only guarantor of the agreement.

President Saakashvili made it clear in September 2006 during an address to the UN General Assembly Session in New York that Georgia would sign such an agreement only after the internationalization of the currently Russian-led peacekeeping operation in South Ossetia.

Tbilisi has also refused to sign a similar agreement with breakaway Abkhazia for the same reason.

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