Geneva co-chairs visit Tskhinvali

Tbilisi is trying to avoid signing a legally-binding document on non-use of force, de facto South Ossetian Special Representative for Post Conflict Regulation Issues, Boris Chochiev said on July 19. He was speaking at a joint press conference with co-chairs of the Geneva talks, who visited Tskhinvali on Tuesday. “We are still waiting for a reaction [from Tbilisi] on our draft document on non-use of force, which we have handed over [to the Georgian side],” Chochiev noted “However we have not seen any reaction so far,” he added.

Chochiev said that the South Ossetian delegation is getting ready for the upcoming Geneva negotiations, which is going to take place on October 4. “We have informed the sides about our position,” he noted, reiterating that there are no talks about the non-use of force document so far. Chochiev noted, however that the position side of Geneva talks is the work of the Incidents Prevention and Response Mechanism meetings. “At the meeting with the Geneva co-chairs we talked about several issues, which should be discussed during IPRM meetings in order to reach better results,” the de facto official noted.

Amid some discontent over the non-use of force document issue, the de facto authorities have announced that they will not be participating in a second working group negotiations in Geneva format. The second working group was set up to discuss the issues of the IDPs. The de facto Foreign Ministry of South Ossetia has cited a UN resolution on the IDPs on Georgian territory as a reason for their decision. The de facto Foreign Ministry said in its statement that the representatives of Abkhazia and South Ossetia were not invited to the discussion. According to Tskhinvali, the UN resolution taken without the participation of Tskhinvali and Sukhumi representatives “brings this problem out of frames of Geneva discussions, which are losing its sense.”

UN General Assembly adopted a non-binding resolution on the right of return of all IDPs from Georgia’s breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to their homes. 57 UN member states voted for with 13 states against and 74 abstentions for a Georgia-initiated document, which has already been passed three times at the UN General Assembly in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Compared to the last year’s voting the document received 7 more votes for on June 29 voting.

After the meeting with Geneva talks co-chairs, Chochiev expressed hopes that the “voice of Abkhazia and South Ossetia will be heard” through the UN General Assembly. “We hope that the Assembly will take a decision on inviting us to a session where our voice will be heard,” he noted. Chochiev criticized the UN General Assembly again, for taking the decision [the resolution] “behind the back” of Abkhazian and South Ossetian authorities.

EU’s Pierre Morel said that there are “disagreements and complicated issues”, however there is a need to have a “balanced view”, cominf.org reported. “We do not forget the aim of the document on non-use of force and of the international agreements on security. This is our key work, we need to move forward step-by-step if we want to reach a final result,” cominf.org quoted him as saying.

Another co-chair of Geneva negotiations, UN’s Anti Turunen said humanitarian issues is an important component of Geneva talks. “It is very important to improve the conditions of the residents, who have been damaged during the conflict or afterwards,” he noted. Meanwhile, OSCE’s Ciedrius Cekuolis said participating of the South Ossetian side in the second working group meetings is “necessary”. “This remains an only place for a South Ossetian position to be presented and heard,” he noted, according to cominf.org.