The message of the South Ossetian delegation on the outcome of the 29th round of international discussions on security and stability in Transcaucasia
October 7-8, 2014 in Geneva was held another round of international discussions on security and stability in Transcaucasia. It was attended by the delegations of the Republic of South Ossetia, the Republic of Abkhazia, Georgia, the Russian Federation, the United States, as well as representatives from the EU, UN and OSCE.
South Ossetian delegation was headed by Presidential Envoy for post-conflict settlement Murat Dzhioev.
The discussions held in accordance with the August 12 and September 8, 2008 Medvedev-Sarkozy agreements, were focused on the non-use of force by Georgia against South Ossetia and Abkhazia as well as to strengthen security and stability in the region. The South Ossetian delegation raised a question to draw up legally binding bilateral agreements on the non-use of force, which would have solid international guarantees, stressing that in solving security problems is the main objective and significance of the Geneva discussions.
Accordingly, giving an assessment of the previously taken steps towards drawing up a legally binding agreement, the South Ossetian delegation again appealed to the panelists to adopt a joint statement on the commitment to the principle of non-use of force. The draft declaration was previously presented by the Russian delegation, but due to the unconstructive position of the Georgian delegation in the course of a few rounds it was not approved. Were received assurances about taking into account the expressed positions, as well as to advance the issue of non-use of force at the next round.
During the discussion of security issues was noted the relative stability of the situation in recent years on the borders of South Ossetia and Abkhazia with Georgia, the absence of serious incidents, a significant reduction of border violations. At the same time it was considered the destabilizing course of actions of the Georgian side to heighten the information tension around the issue of boundaries, points of intersection, speculation on interests of the population, due to delimitation works carried out by the authorities of the Republic of South Ossetia. South Ossetian representatives reiterated the offer of the authorities of the Republic of South Ossetia to start working together on the delimitation of the state border between South Ossetia and Georgia.
The panelists noted the importance of a joint mechanism to prevent and respond to incidents (MPRI), regularly conducting meetings at the South Ossetian-Georgian border, as well as the MPRI "hot line".
At the same time, the South Ossetian and Abkhaz participants expressed concern about the new steps of rapprochement between Georgia and NATO military bloc, as well as the aggressive statements made by Georgian representatives at various international venues. As completely unacceptable interference in the Geneva process were described "recommendations" concerning the objectives of the Geneva discussions, contained in a document adopted at the Newport NATO summit
As part of the overall security issue and the humanitarian situation were discussed issues related to the search for the missing persons. In this regard, the representatives of South Ossetia again reminded of the earlier submissions confirming the responsibility of the Georgian authorities for clarification of the fate of the citizens of South Ossetia that are considered missing. It was also pointed out that despite all the promises and assurances by the Georgian side and the co-moderators of the willingness to contribute to the search for the missing, the Georgian authorities were in fact sabotaging the work in this direction.
South Ossetian officials also reiterated mutual release of prisoners, reminding that as an act of goodwill the South Ossetian authorities pardoned the citizen of Georgia, and handed over to the Georgian authorities another citizen of Georgia wanted on charges for crimes and trying to hide in the territory of the Republic of South Ossetia. Were also discussed other humanitarian issues. At the last round was not discussed refugee issue. It is expected that the resumption of this issue will be possible if Georgia does not artificially politicize the issue.
At the conclusion took place a joint session of the two working groups on the results of the round.
The next meeting in Geneva is scheduled for December 2014.
