European observers to oversee Georgia ceasefire deal
Thursday 21 August 2008
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe has decided to send 20 observers to oversee the implementation of a ceasefire deal signed last week between Russian and Georgian forces.
Thursday 21 August 2008
By AFPThe Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) agreed Tuesday in Vienna to send 20 observers "immediately" to Georgia to oversee a ceasefire deal with Russia.
"Twenty MMOs (military monitoring officers) will be deployed immediately in the areas adjacent to South Ossetia," said the agreement, adopted by consensus by the OSCE's Permanent Council.
The first unarmed monitors were to arrive in Georgia later this week, with all 20 possibly in place within a week.
"It shows that all participating states wanted to use this organisation for the monitoring activities that are so badly needed and to have trust in its capabilities of doing so," the representative of the OSCE's Finnish chairmanship, Aleksi Harkonen, told journalists after the meeting.
The monitors' task would be to oversee a ceasefire between Moscow and Tbilisi that Georgia says is not being respected by Russia.
In total, the OSCE said it would send up to 100 monitors to Georgia for a minimum period of six months, in addition to the handful it already has in the country.
But it noted that the rest of the contingent "will be deployed subject to a new decision of the Permanent Council on the modalities of the MMOs, to be proposed by the Chairmanship without delay."
This decision could realistically be taken in the coming weeks, Harkonen noted, adding that he was hoping this new deal would allow for monitors to be deployed within South Ossetia itself.
The OSCE monitors on the ground, who are all currently in Tbilisi, are already allowed to operate in the breakaway region.
"It will do some good to the implementation of the ceasefire, we hope," Harkonen said of the 20 additional envoys.
Among other things, the monitors could be sent to the Georgian town of Gori to observe the withdrawal of Russian troops, which tentatively began Tuesday.
"The implementation of the ceasefire has been criticised by both sides. Now for the first time we will have a chance to get some independent assessment of what is really happening," Harkonen said.
At least 10 countries have already offered to send monitors to Georgia as part of the OSCE mission, for which a budget has not yet been decided.
In theory, all 56 members can contribute, but Harkonen said the organisation did not need to consult all member states before choosing whom to send, which could mean that Russian monitors will be kept out of the OSCE force.
Tuesday's decision came after long deliberations that began Monday in Vienna.
Georgia was the last member state to agree to the draft agreement, over concerns about where the OSCE observers would be deployed and whether they would require a new mandate.
The OSCE already said last Thursday that it was ready to send additional observers but had not decided on it formally.
Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, who met with NATO foreign ministers Tuesday in Brussels, said he would travel to Georgia on Thursday "to check out that everything is running at least fairly smoothly" and to ensure that the monitors have free access "to the areas in and near the conflict zones."
The first additional OSCE monitors were to travel to the region with him.
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29/08/2008 23:03:56 Alert a moderator
'Georgia's fate lies in European hands'
By David Dzidzikashvili - Cambridge, MA, USA
Unfortunately that is the reality... Georgian citizens are hoping that the old Europe would not make the same mistake as they did in 1939 with Poland and Czechoslovakia. Europe needs to stand up against the Russian barbarians - Putin and medvedev.
27/08/2008 01:30:18 Alert a moderator
Truth about war in Ossetia that is overlooked by BBC and CNN
By Andrey Antonov - London
At 7 p.m. on August 8, the day when Olympics started, worldwide community heard from CNN and BBC news that Russian tanks invaded Georgia and that Russia started war with Georgia.
That the war had begun 16 hours earlier by Georgian president Sukashvili’s order these media preferred to pass over in silence.
But you have the right to know truth. That’s how this really happened:
According to old tradition of Olympic Games’ eve everyone was looking for peace and quiet. On August 7, Georgian and South Ossetian officials agreed to observe a ceasefire and hold debates in attempt to solve their long-term conflict peacefully.
August 8, 00:06
Just hours later, six minutes past midnight on August 8, inhabitants of Ossetian capital Tskhinvali, peacefully sleeping in their beds, heard dreadful whizz of incoming rockets. The hell followed soon... Without any declaration Georgian forces launched massive shelling of Tskhinvali with all available means, including heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems GRAD. In this massacre, in just several hours, the whole city was ruined: 2,000 human lives wasted and 85% of all buildings demolished. Georgian military expedition, called “Clean field”, yielded its first fruits…
August 8, 03:00
Georgian army occupied five Ossetian villages, burning them to ashes.
August 8, 03:30
Georgian tanks started attack on Tskhinvali. Ossetian militia stood up to the enemy but could not keep back 30-times outnumbering Georgian forces. Many basements where Ossetins tried to escape shelling were showered with grenades. At the very same time, Georgian “peacekeepers”, serving in South Ossetia, launched unexampled attack on their yesterday’s colleagues, Russian peacekeepers, managing to kill at least 10 of them.
August 8, 04:33
Russia called for UN Security Council meeting to put a stop to Georgian military aggression and seize fire. No decision was delivered at neither this nor several following meetings.
August 8, 09:00
Russian Prime Minister Putin informed President Bush that Georgia launched war against Ossetia. Mr. Bush answered that “nobody wanted this war”.
Ossetia was praying for help. It was already obvious that “clean field” meant nothing else but ethnical cleansing. In these circumstances, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced that Russia would defend Russian citizens who constitute 90% of South Ossetia population.
August 8, 16:00
Russian forces overstepped mountain pass and made their way toward perishing Ossetins. That was exactly the moment when CNN and BBC finally “noticed” the war and broadcasted their «Russians invaded Georgia» scenes. Sukashvili announced that Russia invaded Georgia and held back that he started this horrible bloodshed himself.
Before midnight, Russian and Ossetian forces kicked aggressors out of Ossetian capital. Survived citizens started to leave basements to escape the city. In the next couple days around 30,000 refugees fled to Russia.
Failed Georgian assault turned to informational blackout and devilish propaganda. It’s time when so much depends on your personal position! We believe that there will be journalists who can give objective picture of these events. We believe in people of peace who will regard an attempt of massive extermination of small nation as genocide (3% of South Ossetins and 0.3% of all Ossetins worldwide were killed in just one night on August 8; fascists have never achieved that efficiency in exterminating Jewish people even when Auschwitz and Treblinka were working at full capacity). We believe in a world community that will view Sukashvili’s inhuman orders as war crime and an outrage on humanity. We believe in you, thinking person, able to confront with facts, person who will not follow barefaced propaganda of politicized and deeply corrupt media, person able to recognize truth!
26/08/2008 10:46:50 Alert a moderator
Abkhazia & south ossetia should never be recognised?
By dave jones - auckland
In response to Tom Bost's comment that Abkhazia & south ossetia should never be recognised, he fails to mention that when Georgia was annexed by the Russian empire in 1801, it came without either one of the breakaway regions. When Abkhazia was incorporated into Georgia in 1931, by Stalin. The then Georgian leader, Lavrenty Beria, supported by Stalin (himself half Georgian) subjected the Abkhazian people to brutal ethnic cleansing, cultural, and political repression. It is stupid to accuse Abkhazia of ethnic cleansing-of course these ethnically Georgian people were going to flee to Georgia, where they felt they would be safer, just like the ossetians would flee to Russia, and not Georgia. Abkhazia has a right to independence, and at one stage, even had the right to secede from the Soviet Union under the soviet constitution. These people have a right to their homeland which was unfairly taken away from them by a brutal dictator (Stalin). Tom, you can't say Kosovo has a right to independence, but Abkhazia doesn't because they forced Georgians to flee, the KLA also ethnically cleansed kosovo, and forced Serbs to flee. And Kosovo's independence is not in a 21st century civilized way, they aren't even recognised by the UN, nor is it likely that they will be for some time.
26/08/2008 09:34:22 Alert a moderator
territorial integrity
By Anonyme -
"Georgia's territorial integrity and borders must command
the same respect as every other nation's, including Russia's," -but how about serbia's territorial integrity?
Bush can't criticise Russia for recognising Abkhazia and South Ossetia when they recognise Kosovo which is against international law, and also, UN security council resolution 1244. Stop being a hypocrite, Mr. Bush
26/08/2008 06:51:53 Alert a moderator
Its all about greed and lazy people
By ROBERT (U.S.) -
How do you fight greed and lazyness. Greed equals Russia the U.S. and next China are all competing for that black gold (Oil). The lazy are the social security benifits that oil revenues pay for. The trade off for Russian passports is social security benifits for lazy people. Oil and social security are tied to gether in all countries. when the oil is gone so will the social securty benifits. Think about it, the world transition from farming sociaties to industial sociaties was caused by oil. In a farming sociaty the young took care of the old or disabled. not so in Industrial sociaties. Whats next who knows.maysbe people will slow slide back do both farming and industrial
26/08/2008 05:25:22 Alert a moderator
US URGE RUSSIA NOT TO ACCEPT REBEL'S PLEA
By Anonyme -
ALL YOU HEAR COMING FROM THE STATE IS NOTHING BUT LIES.WHILE ISRAEL SUPPLY THE ARMS,THE US TRAINED AND WERE BACKING UP GEORGIA,WHEN GEORGIA STARTED THE CONFLIT BY KILLING 10 PEACEKEEPERS,THEN THEY KILLED ABOUT1,500 CIVILIENS ON AUGUST 7TH.AGAIN THE US,UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE MOSSAD,TRIGGERED ANOTHER ILLEGAL WAR.AND SINCE THEY CONTROL THE MEDIA,THEY SAY ANYTHING THEY WANT.ENOUGH LIES FROM THE US.THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT PEOPLE,THEY THINK THAT THEY CAN CONTROL THE WOLRD.THEY NEED TO BE DISCIPLINED.NOW.BFORE THEY GO AFTER IRAN NEXT.
26/08/2008 03:13:49 Alert a moderator
Russia's Achilles Heel
By Lenka Hodkova - Philadephia, US
There is an interesting suggestion from Steve Levine. The Russians have a big weakness. The West should keep in mind Russia's Achilles Heel while dealing with Putin and Medvedev. Levine knows this area, having covered wars in Chechnya, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Tajikistan as well as the Soviet-Afghan war: http://oilandglory.com/2008/08/russias-achilles-heel.html
25/08/2008 15:35:53 Alert a moderator
Stop Russia
By Tom Bost - Toronto, Canada
Abkhazia and South Ossetia should never be recognized. The case is totally different from Kosovo. Georgian citizens where expelled from Abkhazia where 80% of population consisted of Georgians. Same happened in South Ossetia. Conflicts should be resolved in civilized way in 21 century. First of all, all refugees should be returned to both regions and then let the population vote whether they want to live with Georgia or not. Moscow is afraid to return refugees, because a simple calculation will show everyone that 80% of Georgian population will vote for united Georgia and live within one country.
25/08/2008 15:04:32 Alert a moderator
RUSSIA FINALLY UNMASKED
By Dare Ajayi - Nigeria
RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT HAS FINALLY CONFIRMED FROM THERE ACTION ON THE BREAKAWAY REGIONS THAT THE ATTACK ON GEORGIA WAS PRE PLANNED. IT WAS THE RUSSIAN SCRIPT THAT PROMPTED THE MILITIANS TO REGULARLY ATTACK THE GEOGIAN POSITIONS WHICH PROMPTED THE GEOGIAN RESPONSE. THE DUMAS CONFIRMATION HAS FINALLY DESTROYED THE INTERGRITY OF THE NEW PRESIDENT. PUTINS DAY OF JUDGEMENT IN THE HANDS OF GOD LIKE NEBUCCADNEZAR IS FAR CLOSER THAN EVER. RUSSIA MADE A BIG MISTAKE
25/08/2008 11:19:14 Alert a moderator
Needs Humility
By Abdulrahman - Saudi Arabia
History repeats itself. US and Russia again are looking for who is the Superpower. Who is the mighty, Bush or Medvedev(Putin). Whoever be the winner let us proclaim it now or lets proclaim them both, because if we will not act quickly and defensively, we are the main and ultimate losser. For the time being let us acknowledge them both for being supermighty and probably later on Almighty God will give them much better solution which is out of our knowledge. Sometimes I think it is only a marketing agenda, so that people all over the world will not forget their name, some sort of "need attention".
25/08/2008 04:29:26 Alert a moderator
May God Save our world
By Kamara Bernard - Haiti
My knowledge in the field of history is not enough but to day what i see is dramactic. Nowdays, USA and Occidental Europe are directly or inderectly envolve in all the conflicts, hostilities on this planete using some kind of arguments which are not founded. The wise people said in my country that if you kill your dog because it is wild someone else dog will bite you; it means that if Europe refuse to cope with Russia and follow the politic of USA, it will be regretful for them tomorrow. Now United nations will fail like SDN, because if USA want to attack one cuntry because of petrol they do it by killing so many people. I think it is time for Europe to not always follow USA so that we can have peace and tranquility in this world. They can never be the master of this world, only God is and will always be. USA are using the old politic of jungle by killing people because of their own properties and Europian Union can blindly follow until accept everything from those people. Europe normally is a civilized country but if you keep on supporting some savage politics others will be deceived like me today. I anyway trust Russia and is the first friend of peace and tranquility in the world but the narrow-minded don't know.
I thank you for your availability and hope you can play your role to spread some information so that European U and USA can let people free in Afgahnistan, Irak, Iran, Syria, and help poor people than arms race everywhere in teh world which cannot construct peace.
Thank you
25/08/2008 02:00:54 Alert a moderator
Stop giving the mic to Saakashvili
By John -
This confused guy cannot speak French. He blamed the West for failing to stop Russia while the west was trying to clean up his mess. This guy is the worst politicien in the earth. He should blame himself fro gambling with soldiers and civilian life. The media should not give the mic to this guy and let Sarkosy work out a peaceful solution to the crazy Saakashvili's war.
23/08/2008 15:07:18 Alert a moderator
Just who in the West has the right to question Russia?
By K.V. Tellis - Canada, Mississauga
Just who in the West has the authority to question Russia when they have not so far question the U.S.A. in its actions in Bosnia, Kosovo, Haiti, Afghanistan and Iraq? If the cannot question the U.S., then they certainly have no right to question Russia or any other country for that matter.
The eunuchs that serve the Court of the Mandarin George W. Bush must do his bidding or they will suffere the consequences of their actions. No nation on this earth has the right to question the actions of any other nation.