South Ossetia Talks Thwarted

A session of the quadripartite Joint Control Commission (JCC) over the South Ossetian conflict, which was scheduled to start in Tskhinvali on September 15, was thwarted after the South Ossetian side refused to allow Commander of the Georgian peacekeeping battalion Paata Bedianashvili, who is a member of the Georgian delegation, to enter the South Ossetian capital, Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Merab Antadze said.

The South Ossetian side cited Bedianashvili as being among ?the organizers and active participants of Georgia?s military aggression against South Ossetia? in the summer of 2004 and refused to give security guarantees for him.

?Such an approach is absolutely unacceptable. This fact once again confirms our supposition that this format [JCC] is outdated and its functionability is limited,? Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Merab Antadze told reporters on September 15.

Earlier, Antadze said that a refusal by the South Ossetian side to let Bedianashvili participate in the Tskhinvali talks would be considered an attempt ?to deliberately thwart the session.?

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