Translated material
Under the roof of one house
Tbilisi has come up with a plan for the return of South Ossetia
Today, Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Georgiy Khaindrava will present to the authorities of the unrecognized republic of South Ossetia a new plan for the Georgian-Ossetian settlement. The head of Georgian diplomacy, Gela Bezhuashvili, stated this at a briefing on Sunday. He noted that the document has already received support from the United States and the OSCE.Now Georgia is waiting for a response from the Russian Foreign Ministry. According to him, Moscow asked for time to study. “We expect similar support from Russia,” Mr. Bezhuashvili said. If such support from Moscow is received, Georgia may postpone the requirement for peacekeepers to leave the conflict zone after February 10, 2006, as envisaged by the Georgian parliament's October 11 resolution.
According to a document from South Ossetia, a former autonomous region within Georgia that became an unrecognized republic 15 years ago, Tbilisi offers “the highest and most progressive degree of autonomy in a single state.” Other details of the plan have not been disclosed. As Vremya Novostei learned, it provides for the demilitarization of the conflict zone, restoration of trust and economic investment in South Ossetia.
The plan will be discussed at a meeting of the co-chairs of the Joint Control Commission from Tbilisi, Tskhinvali, Vladikavkaz and Moscow, which will take place in Ljubljana on November 15-16 at the invitation of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office. Mr. Khaindrava told VN that this would be the last round in this format. Without the involvement of Western mediators, Tbilisi will suspend its participation in the JCC.
On Sunday, Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli, accompanied by Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili, planned to visit Georgian villages in South Ossetia to tell the population about the country's reunification plan. But the visit did not take place. Tbilisi attributed this to heavy rain. It turned out that the South Ossetian authorities did not give permission for the Georgian delegation to enter the republic. “A meeting is being prepared between Zurab Nogaideli and our President Eduard Kokoity,” Irina Gagloeva, chairman of the Committee on Information and Press of South Ossetia, told VN. - Until then, we consider such visits inappropriate. The situation in the conflict zone may become more complicated. As for Georgiy Khaindrava, we will accept him, we will listen to his proposals, but nothing more. We have no doubts about our course to join Russia through unification with North Ossetia.”
Irina Gagloeva reported that the first congress of Russian citizens of South Ossetia took place in Tskhinvali. There are approximately 95% of these people in the republic of 70 thousand people. The delegates stated that they see Russia as the main guarantor of peace and stability in the Caucasus region. Georgia, by heavily arming itself, is preparing a forceful solution to the South Ossetian problem, it was noted at the congress.