Settlement of the Georgian-Ossetian Conflict: Mixed Control Commission Meets in Extraordinary Session in Moscow

Unofficial translation from Russian

PRESS RELEASE

An extraordinary meeting of the Mixed Control Commission (MCC) for settlement of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict took place in Moscow on October 24-25.

The participants in the meeting noted that the situation in the zone of conflict had been sharply exacerbated recently by the introduction into the zone of heavy military equipment and by the mortar shooting attack on Tskhinvali on September 20, as a result of which civilians suffered. Extremely slowly the implementation of the previously adopted MCC decisions is proceeding and the process of the demilitarization of the conflict zone that had earlier begun has been suspended. At the same time it was emphasized that the decision to organize this meeting, and the efforts made by the Russian side to step up MCC activities, attest to the sides' keenness to continue the work on resolving the conflict within the framework of existing formats.

The MCC noted that the real basis for the further development of the peace process is the "three-stage scheme" for settlement (stage one, demilitarizing the conflict zone and restoring mutual trust; stage two, carrying out social and economic rehabilitation of the conflict zone; and stage three, achieving a political settlement), supported at a point in the past by the leaders of the parties in conflict (the speech by Mikhail Saakashvili at the 59th session of the United Nations General Assembly, the statements of Eduard Kokoity).

To work out measures aimed at the development of the peace process, the MCC suggested holding a meeting between Eduard Kokoity and Zurab Nogaideli in the nearest future.

In development of the accords reached in Sochi on November 5, 2004, MCC addressed an appeal to the leaderships of the parties to facilitate holding at the start of 2006 a meeting between parliamentarians and representatives of public organizations and the intelligentsia.

Having regard to the provisions of the Russian-Georgian intergovernmental Agreement on Mutual Cooperation in the Rehabilitation of the Economy in the Zone of the Georgian-Ossetian Conflict and in the Return of Refugees of December 23, 2000, MCC called for the parties participating in the settlement process to start working out a concept for a most favored nation treatment zone in the area.

Acting in accordance with the Sochi statement of Zurab Zhvania and Eduard Kokoity of November 5, 2004, MCC called for resuming the process of demilitarizing the conflict zone and disbanding the armed groups not under the control of the official structures of the parties in conflict.

MCC directed the joint investigation group that has been formed in accordance with the MCC decision of June 22-23, 2005, with participation by the representatives of the OSCE Mission, to finish the criminal probe on the basis of the available evidences of the mortar shooting attack on Tskhinvali on September 20, 2005

MCC examined the progress in carrying out a number of economic projects undertaken in the conflict zone under the auspices of the EU, OSCE and UNDP.

MCC has gratefully accepted the invitation of OSCE Chairman-in-Office and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia Dimitrij Rupel to hold a session of the MCC in Ljubljana (Slovenia) on November 15-16.

The constructive decisions of the MCC refute the claims of those who are talking about the ineffectiveness of the existing settlement mechanisms and about the need for their drastic reformation. Progress in settlement will not depend on some new "magic" formulas, but on the political will to carry out the decisions taken within the framework of the MCC.

October 26, 2005