The first Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) meeting was held 23 April 2009 in the village of Ergneti adjacent to the borderline with South Ossetia. The agreement on the Mechanism was reached at Geneva discussions on security in the Caucasus. Representatives of authorities of South Ossetia and Georgia, Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation, as well as officials from the OSCE and EU. The aim of the IPRM, as seen by the initiators, is to defuse tensions and facilitate confidence building between South Ossetia and Georgia.
The IPRM was meant to ensure rapid and adequate response to security situation, including in case of incidents and investigation, protection of important infrastructure sites, reaction to criminal incidents, unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid and other issues which could imply security and stability. A year ago, the first meeting was notable for certain progress. Organizational issues were discussed, the sides agreed on the frequency of the meeting and creation of round-the-clock hotline between South Ossetian and Georgian law enforcement bodies. However, the follow-up meetings showed that the sides are unable to agree even on secondary issues, like for instance, the meetings’ chairmanship or the venue. The borderline incidents were discussed at the meetings, though the Georgian side did not react to these incidents and did nothing to investigate them. The meetings came to a deadlock already after the fourth meeting, when the abduction of people was raised.
”This is the issues that we will constantly put on the agenda until there any response to it. It is about the fate of our citizens abducted by Georgian special services”, stated the head of the South Ossetian delegation Merab Chigoev last September. “The main issue for the Georgian side will be the release of Georgian detainees”, said the representative of the Georgian Interior Ministry Shota Utiashvili in his turn. While the South Ossetian side focused on the issue of citizens abducted from the territory of South Ossetia, Georgia insisted on release of border trespassers and the persons who had committed concrete crimes. Those, who simply went astray and unintentionally entered the territory of South Ossetia were returned to the territory of Georgia after a brief examination of the case. Merab Chigoev had repeatedly proposed to the Georgian side at the meetings in Ergneti to act accordingly when dealing with South Ossetian citizens. Nonetheless, the people were trialed by Georgian courts and sentence either to imprisonment or to valuable cash penalties. The most important is that the South Ossetian participants to the IPRM meetings were insisting on the necessity to provide information on the seven abducted South Ossetians reported missing by the Georgian side. This demand is still unmet. Therefore, in June 2009, South Ossetia refused to participate in the Mechanism further on. “We still know nothing about the fate of our citizens, and this is a crucial issue for us. Until there is some data on their whereabouts received, we do not participate in these meetings”, stated Boris Chochiev, the Plenipotentiary for Post-Conflict Settlement. After that, South Ossetia has nevertheless participated in several meetings hoping for some progress in decrease of tension and clarification on the fate of its citizens. These expectations found no outcome and presently, the IPRM is no more active.
IA RES Analytical Information Service
