The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is desperately trying to save its Mission, which should finally leave the Caucasus end of June. On 13 May, Permanent Council of the OSCE with representatives of the 56 member states is planning to discuss another variant of further activities of this Organization in Georgia and South Ossetia.
A meeting between the South Ossetian side’s representatives and the EUMM was held, reported the Deputy Special Representative for Post-Conflict Settlement Merab Chigoev.
According to Chigoev, “on 11 May we were called from the EUMM HQ and informed that an incident occurred to the EU military monitors in the vicinity to the village of Dvan at the Georgian-Ossetian borderline. “
After nine months since August 2008, the process of reconstruction of houses destroyed during the Georgian aggression is ongoing. The School #5 building, which was badly damaged during the shelling of Tskhinval, is being reconstructed thanks to the humanitarian assistance provided by Arkhangelsk oblast.
”Electric nets and water pipes are being replaced and the school heating system is being installed. There are no delays with supply of construction materials for the school rehabilitation”, said Construction engineer Alexei Trishin.
A wreath-laying ceremony took place at the Great Patriotic War Hero Memorial in the South Ossetian capital city of Tskhinval. The RSO President Eduard Kokoity, Government and Parliament members, war veterans and representatives of youth organizations participated in the ceremony.
Eduard Kokoity congratulated everyone on the 64th Anniversary of the Great Victory Day, and wished long healthy life and well-being to the Great Patriotic War veterans. “As the Commander-in-Chief of the RSO I would like to express to you our gratitude for your coming here today to celebrate the Victory Day”. Wreath-laying ceremonies also took place at the Patriotic War Hero Alley, at Archangel Michael monument and at the memorial cemetery at Tskhinval school № 5.
As of today, NATO exercise has started in the neighboring state of Georgia. The attitude of the South Ossetian authorities has been expressed by the RSO Foreign Minister Murat Djioev.
"We have already expressed out attitude towards the NATO exercises which are starting today on the territory of neighboring Georgia. Our attitude is in the stance that NATO exercises are of direct threat to security in the region. We consider them as open demonstration of NATO's support to Georgia's militarism. Recently, in August 2008, Georgia committed armed aggression against South Ossetia, the results of which are still visible. The relations between South Ossetia and Georgia are still unsettled. Under these circumstances, when Georgia provides with no guarantees of non-use of force against its neighboring states of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, conducting these exercises means demonstrating Georgia's aggressiveness", stated the Minister.
A round-table on "Dynamics of development of democratic institutions in the Republic of South Ossetia through the first year of its recognition is held today in Tskhinval. The round-table has been organized by the RSO Human Rights Commissioner David Sanakoev in collaboration with the Center for Monitoring of democratic Processes "Quorum". As reported by David Sanakoev "representatives of executive and legislative branches of RSO are participating in the session, as well as representatives of South Ossetian and Russian NGOs, political scientists, European experts and journalists".
Concerning the breakdown of the preparatory meting for 18 May round of Geneva talks scheduled for 5 May
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Ossetia expresses its sincere regret in relation to the fact that the working meeting of the Geneva talks Co-Chairmen with the authorities of South Ossetia to prepare the next round of Geneva talks failed to take place on 5 May 2009 in Tskhinval as initially scheduled due to the Co-Chairmen’s unconstructive position. This position has been proved with the letter received by the RSO MFA from the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Ambassador Charlampos Christopoulos stating that after having consultations the Geneva Co-Chairmen decided to cancel the meeting since due to “security reasons they could arrive in Tskhinval only from the Georgian side and exclusively by vehicles of OSCE Mission to Georgia or UN Mission to Georgia.
The meeting of working groups within the frames of the incident prevention mechanism schdued for today was cancelled because of the Georgian side and the EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM), reported the Special Representative for Post-Conflict Settlement Boris Chochiev.
The situation remains tense. This is how the RSO Interior Minister Valery Valiev characterized the current state of affairs in South Ossetia
"The events not happening in Georgia cause special concerns. Certainly, for the law enforcement bodies the situation in South Ossetia is more important, but the situation in the proximity to our borders also remains in the limelight", said the Interior Minister.
Russian border-guards had presented the population in South Ossetia with another holiday in May, RSO president Eduard Kokoity told journalists in Tskhinval. "Russian border-guards arrived in South Ossetia after the 30 April agreement signing and are now settling down. I would like to emphasize the professionalism of Russian border-guards. The first few days of the group which arrived in South Ossetia and their contacts with the population are worth praising," he said.
