Monday, July 30, 2007, #143 (1410)

Bryza Brings US Support for Tbilisi’s South Ossetia Game Plan
By Nino Mumladze

US diplomat Matthew Bryza says Tbilisi is in its third stage of conflict resolution

A US official delivered the White House’s full support for Georgia’s territorial integrity while in Tbilisi July 27, praising the government’s “important” new approaches to South Ossetian conflict resolution.

“For the past year we and the international community worked with the Georgian government implementing economic and confidence-building measures. We tried to see progress on demilitarization and now it’s time to move to the third phase, which is to talk about political resolution of the conflict,” said US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Matthew Bryza, after meeting with Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli.
 
Bryza was referring to the third phase of a three-stage conflict resolution plan President Mikheil Saakashvili presented to the UN General Assembly in September of 2004. The first phase is demilitarization, the second is confidence-building in and rehabilitation of the breakaway regions, and the third aims for a comprehensive political settlement of the conflicts.

Bryza also welcomed Tbilisi’s new state commission on South Ossetian status definition, particularly emphasizing the Georgian offer of inclusion for all Ossetian representatives.

“The formation of a commission with participation by Ossetians and the government of Georgia—Ossetians meaning both people loyal to Mr. Kokoity and those who are loyal to Mr. Sanakoyev—is part of the evolution of this Georgian plan that we fully support,” he said.

Having said that, Bryza talked up a role in the commission for Dmitry Sanakoyev, the Tbilisi-backed head of the South Ossetian temporary administrative unit, over that of secessionist leader Eduard Kokoity. The de facto South Ossetian president ruled out any status definition talks with the commission, saying the breakaway region’s status—independence—had been defined in the 1992 and 2006 referendums. Any autonomy for South Ossetia recommended by the commission would be as a part of the Georgian state.

“The fact that Mr. Sanakoyev seems to have growing support in South Ossetia is just a fact, it’s a reality,” claimed Bryza.

Meanwhile, Moscow continues to stay away from Tbilisi’s commission. Russian Ambassador Vyavheslav Kovalenko, speaking the same day as Bryza, said he doubted very much that Russia would participate in the commission.

The same day, after meeting with Speaking of Parliament Nino Burjanadze, Bryza dismissed all talk of a Kosovo precedent extending to South Ossetia and Abkhazia as “groundless.”

The US official also strongly criticized another Russian talking point, that the March 11 rocket attack on Tbilisi-controlled upper Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia “favored, first and foremost, the Georgian side.”

“I understand that there have been some statements from other countries saying that Georgia must have attacked itself. It is ridiculous…It reminds me of the period when the tragedy happened in Sarajevo, when one side said that the Bosnians attacked and killed themselves. It’s not believable; it’s not credible,” Bryza said.

While the July 12 UNOMIG report did not explicitly identify who carried out the attack, Bryza made a point of reading between the lines.

“It makes some things clear, that is very important. One, Georgia was attacked; and two, it appears that helicopters probably were used in the attack,” Bryza said.

He echoed Georgia’s demand for more investigation, saying the time had come to resolve the issue “once and for all and make sure there are never any more attacks on Georgian territory.”

Bryza also expressed approval of UNOMIG’s recommendation to reactivate its observer base in Kodori Gorge, a move secessionist Abkhaz authorities say they will “consider” only if Tbilisi removed its armed law enforcers from Kodori Gorge.

The US State Department official concluded his visit July 29, after meeting with top government officials as well as opposition politicians.



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