South Ossetia: Geneva Intl Discussions effective way to achieve security
TSKHINVALI, South Ossetia. June 1 (Interfax) - An envoy of the South Ossetian president argued on Thursday that the Geneva International Discussions are a format that can achieve security and stability for Georgia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
"The Geneva Discussions are valued highly in South Ossetia. The drafting within the Geneva Discussions format of a document on the non-use of force is a guarantee of security," Murat Dzhioyev said during a meeting in Tskhinvali with the co-chairs of the Geneva International Discussions.
He said the planned document would be backed by strong international guarantees and would be not only in the interest of South Ossetia and Abkhazia but also in that of the entire population of the region.
"At the same time, the Geneva Discussions are not as smooth a process as one would have like it to be. Our Georgian partners at times deliberately try to obstruct discussions on vital issues. At times attempts are made to force on us issues that are secondary to the issue of security and non-use of force. It needs to be taken into account that humanitarian issues directly depend on the situation in the region as a whole," Dzhioyev said.
European Union Co-Chair Herbert Salber also praised the Geneva International Discussions as a format, though he complained that the latest round of the discussions had failed to be as effective as expected. He said the co-chairs had proposals to discuss with South Ossetia.
The co-chair for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Angelo Gnaedinger, raised the issue of South Ossetians who are serving prison terms in Georgia or have gone missing. He said Georgia had given the OSCE the go-ahead for such disappearances to be investigated by an independent expert.
The co-chairs went on to meet with South Ossetian President Leonid Tibilov.