OSCE Special Envoy Visits South Ossetia

Special Envoy of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office Zhelyu Zhelev visited  Georgia?s breakaway South Ossetia on July 27 and held talks with the authorities of the self-styled republic in the capital Tskhinvali. Zhelyu Zhelev also met with the Commander of Russian peacekeepers deployed in the conflict zone, Svyatoslav Nabzdorov.
 
?The vision of the Ossetian side regarding the conflict resolution was rather interesting. Of course, I cannot agree with all of their assessments, however the Tskhinvali talks were very informative for us,? Zhelyu Zhelev said at a news briefing on July 27 in Tbilisi after return from Tskhinvali.
 
He said the primary task is to withdraw weapons from the conflict zone in order to avoid a renewal of an armed conflict.
 
The OSCE envoy also said that Georgia?s proposal regarding OSCE?s monitoring the Roki Pass, which links South Ossetia with Russia?s North Ossetian Republic, was not discussed during the talks in South Ossetia.
 
Head of the OSCE mission in Georgia, Ambassador Roy Reeve, who also attended the news briefing, said the Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zourabichvili will push the issue of increasing OSCE’s involvement in the settlement of the South Ossetian conflict at the OSCE Permanent Council session in Vienna on July 29.

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