Mediators and Observers meet on Transnistria conflict

OSCE
Press Release
April 28


Ambassador Charalampos Christopoulos, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, released the following statement today on behalf of the Mediators and Observers in the Transnistria settlement process (the "3+2"):

"The Mediators and Observers in the Transnistria settlement process (the Russian Federation, Ukraine, OSCE, the United States and the European Union), meeting in Vienna on 28 April under the chairmanship of Ambassador Charalampos Christopoulos, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, noting the recent situation in Moldova, reiterated the relevant statements made previously by their respective authorities, and agreed on the necessity of the early renewal of political negotiations in the Permanent Conference on Political Issues in the Framework of the Transnistria Settlement Process (the "5+2").

The Mediators and Observers stressed the importance of further direct contacts between the Sides at all levels, including in the Joint Expert Working Groups on Confidence-building Measures, and called for the re-activation of the work of these groups. They supported a prospective seminar on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures in the Military Field to be organized by the OSCE Mission to Moldova and the Greek OSCE Chairmanship.

The Mediators and Observers looked forward to visiting the region and meeting with the leaderships of the Sides in the coming months."



For PDF attachments or links to sources of further information, please visit: http://www.osce.org/item/37390.html

For further information contact:

Martin Nesirky - Spokesperson
Press and Public Information Section
Wallnerstrasse 6
1010 Vienna
Austria
Tel.: +43 1 514 36 6150 (office) +43 664 859 08 26 (mobile)
Fax: +43 1 514 36 6105
E-mail: spokesperson@osce.org

SCE welcomes agreement on security mechanisms at Geneva discussions on Georgia

OSCE Press Release

GENEVA, 18 February 2009 - The OSCE welcomes the agreement reached today in Geneva on working-level mechanisms to tackle security-related incidents in the region and said it stands ready to assist in making the measures work effectively.

"This is a vital step forward," said Ambassador Charalampos Christopoulos, the Special Envoy of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office. "The OSCE stands ready to assist to make these mechanisms work effectively."

He and the other two co-chairs - Ambassador Johan Verbeke of the UN and Ambassador Pierre Morel of the EU - agreed with the participants that the next meeting would be in Geneva in the spring, at a date to be determined.

The mechanisms will involve weekly meetings - or more frequent if needed - to handle disputes and incidents on the ground. There will also be a 24-hour hotline.

The discussions today and yesterday took place in two parallel working groups; one looking at security and stability in the region and the other at humanitarian questions including internally displaced persons and refugees.

Christopoulos noted all participants appreciate the OSCE's role in helping to ensure the resumption last month of natural gas supplies to Tskhinvali.

"This is recognition of the role the OSCE can continue to play to build trust and security in the region," the Ambassador said. He said the OSCE was working with equal resolve to help restore potable and irrigation water supplies to the region and helping interested parties resolve other humanitarian questions.

For PDF attachments or links to sources of further information, please visit: http://www.osce.org/item/36333.html

For further information contact:

Martin Nesirky - Spokesperson
Press and Public Information Section
Wallnerstrasse 6
1010 Vienna
Austria
Tel.: +43 1 514 36 6150 (office) +43 664 859 08 26 (mobile)
Fax: +43 1 514 36 6105
E-mail: spokesperson@osce.org

Georgia separatists warn may block U.N. monitors

Christian Lowe and Conor Sweeney

Reuters

February 10

Georgia's separatist Abkhazia region said on Tuesday it will not allow United Nations ceasefire monitors to continue working in its territory unless the mission's name is changed to reflect separatists' desire for independence'

But, Western diplomats in Moscow said Russia and not Abkhazia would have the decisive say in whether the mandate for the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) is renewed. Abkhazia objects to the reference to Georgia.

Separatist foreign minister Sergei Shamba said the new mandate -- to replace one which expires on February 15 -- must change the mission's name to reflect the separatists' assertion that Abkhazia is an independent state.

"If it (the new mandate) does not correspond to our proposals we will not allow them in. We will not allow the U.N. mission in Georgia into Abkhazia," Shamba told Reuters in a telephone interview.

In New York, Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters a group of key countries had drafted a resolution extending the mandate for four months. The Security Council was expected to pass it later this week, he said.

Western governments say the U.N. mission plays a central role in preventing new hostilities between separatist and Georgian forces, who are locked in a tense standoff after Abkhaz forces drove out Tbilisi's troops in fighting in the 1990s.

This week's dealings at U.N. headquarters in New York over the mandate are seen by many observers as a test of Russia's willingness to work with the international community after it angered many Western states with its war with Georgia last year.

Georgia said it wanted the mandate left unchanged and would not accept a mission that undermined its territorial integrity.

"In my opinion, Abkhazia is bluffing," Georgian Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister on Reintegration Temur Iakobashvili told Reuters.

Uncertain future

For years there has been consensus on the need for the U.N. observer mission but last year's war -- and Russia's subsequent recognition of Abkhazia and the second breakaway region of South Ossetia as independent -- have made its status more precarious.

Russia last year blocked the renewal of the mandate for an Organization for Security and Cooperation observer mission in South Ossetia, saying the mandate had to be changed to acknowledge the region's statehood.

The final deadline to agree on the OSCE mission's mandate falls on February 18. The OSCE said on Tuesday two of its monitors were briefly detained in South Ossetia.

But one Western diplomat in Moscow who is familiar with the talks said the U.N. mission was different.

"For Russia, it will be more difficult to boot out the U.N., when it also says the U.N. should be the core forum where international disputes should be handled," he said.

Russia and Nicaragua are the only states to have recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent.

See also:

OSCE - Concerns over the detaining of unarmed monitors

RFE/RL - A Day in the Life of Russia's Collective Unconscious