Archive - 11/2009

On 19 November, the Special Representative of the RSO President for Post-Conflict Settlement Boris Chochiev met with the Head of the ICRC mission in South Ossetia Pierre Reichel. The meeting’s discussion focused on the missing South Ossetians. Boris Chochiev additionally asked the Head of Mission to check the information available to the South Ossetian side on the abducted citizens of South Ossetians who are kept by Georgian police in Gori (Georgia).

During his briefing in Tskhinval, the Special Representative for Post-Conflict Settlement Boris Chochiev told about the consultations on security in the Caucasus held in Geneva on 11 November. According to him, after the preliminarily agreement on the agenda has been reached, the first day’s discussions started with the situation at the area adjacent to the borderline between South Ossetia and Georgia and Abkhazia and Georgia.
‘The incidents at the borderline, including the detention of 16 Georgian citizens who trespassed the border of South Ossetia, as well as the 4 underage Georgian citizens who were detained with hand-grenades and explosives on the territory of South Ossetia were discussed. The Georgian side tried to build up the discussion so that it is focused on these four teenagers, but the report of the South Ossetian delegation focused drew the attention of the discussions’ participants on a more vital problem of abducted South Ossetians, including an underage persons. The Georgian side so far had refused to provide any information on местонахождении the fate of these persons.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) delivered to the administration of Tskhinval and Znaur districts of South Ossetia two mobile workshops consisting of a welding generator unit, a welding set and plumbing tools, and a leakage detector.

At the eighth round of the Geneva consultations on security in the Caucasus, the side discussed the report of the EU-initiated Fact-finding Mission on the war in South Ossetia in August 2008. As reported by the Special Representative of the RSO President for Post-Conflict Settlement Boris Chochiev, the discussion of the Report was initiated by the Ossetian side. "The South Ossetian side suggested that in the future, the discussions on Georgian-Ossetian relationships would continue in the light of the report of Tagliavini, where there is a clear conclusion that Georgia had violated international norms by committing a perfidious attack at South Ossetia, that Georgia is the aggressor.", said Chochiev. South Ossetian representatives have also raised the question why the United States and the international community, based on Tagliavini's report, did not call for bringing Saakashvili to justice as the person responsible.

The South Ossetian side states about suspension in its participation in the work of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism, reported the Special Representative for Post-Conflict Settlement Boris Chochiev.
"During the Geneva talks on security in South Caucasus, we have circulated our delegation's statement that unless the Georgian side provides us with information concerning our citizens abducted by Georgian special services both during the war in August 2008 and after it, we will withdraw out participation in the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism established within the frames of the Geneva talks", said Chochiev.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has delivered equipment to the first 13 families among those supported under the program of micro-economic initiatives (MEI) in Tskhinval. The program started at the end of July 2009 with dissemination sessions for families residing in the nine collective centers for displaced persons. Totally, the ICRC has received 116 project proposals, mainly in the field of small production and services, among which 55 were selected as most realistic and result-oriented.

The four Georgian citizens detained 4 November by the law enforcement bodies of South Ossetia feel well. No means of physical or psychological pressure were used against them, the detainees themselves reported to journalists while at the Pre-trial Detention Facility (IVS) of the RSO Interior Ministry in Tskhinval.
According to the detainees, they were aware of the charges against them in illegal crossing of the state border of South Ossetia and illegal possession of explosives. In the meantime, the suspects reject their possessing hand-grenades and explosives stating that the bag they had contained nothing but food.

South Ossetian Delegation has left for Geneva to participate in the 8th Round of the Geneva Discussions on Security and stability in the Caucasus, reported the Head of South Ossetian delegation to the Geneva discussions Boris Chochiev.
According to him, “the eighth round of the consultations on security and stability in South Caucasus (Geneva discussions), which will take place on 11 November in Geneva, will focus on the elaboration of a draft agreement on non-use of force, and work on basic elements of non-use of force papers as well as international security arrangements.”

The President of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoity received a group of entrepreneurs. The First Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zelig, Minister for Economic Development Alexander Zhmailo, Finance Minister Irina Sytnic, Prosecutor General Tamuraz Khugaev, Chairman of the committee for state control and economic security Batradz Tokazov, and the Chairman of the Committee for Taxation Konstantin Koliev attended the meeting.

RSO President Eduard Kokoity received the Head of Leningor District Administration Alan Djussoev. During the meeting, the general situation in the District, the issues related to the road construction and installation of electricity line, as well as elaboration of the District's economic and social development plan for 2010 have been discussed.