Peacekeeping_4_v2final.qxd 1/28/08 10:07 AM Page 131
4.19
While Georgia’s establishment of a parallel administration in South Ossetia at the CIS–South Ossetia Joint Peacekeeping Forces (JPKF) end of 2006 was designed to change the status quo and reduce support for the Tskhinvali ad- • Authorization Date 24 June 1992 ministration, negotiations remained frozen • Start Date July 1992 during 2007 and a missile incident in August • Head of Mission Major-General Marat Kulakhmetov kept tensions high. Continued statements link- (Russia) ing the outcome of the Kosovo status talks • Strength as of Troops: 1,500 with South Ossetia’s future contributed to un- 30 September 2007 ease in Tbilisi, while the lack of productive high-level talks by the Joint Control Commis- sion (JCC) left negotiations at a stalemate. Violent conflict erupted in Georgia’s OSCE Mission to Georgia South Ossetia region in January 1991 after the Georgian government denied a request by Ossetian officials for autonomous status within • Authorization Date 6 November 1992 Georgia. The war continued until June 1992, • Start Date December 1992 leaving some 1,000 dead, 100 missing, more • Head of Mission Ambassador Terhi Hakala (Finland) than 65,000 internally displaced, and the • Budget $14 million (October 2006–September 2007) South Ossetian administrative center, Tskhin- • Strength as of Civilian Staff: 29 vali, destroyed. The 1992 “Agreement on the 30 September 2007 Principles of Settlement of the Georgian- Ossetian Conflict Between Georgia and Rus- sia” (also known as the Sochi Accords) estab- lished both a cease-fire and the Joint Control Commission. The JCC was created primarily to institutions, including a presidency, a parlia- monitor the terms of the agreement, implement ment, and armed forces. In 2004, newly settlement measures, coordinate economic re- elected Georgian president Mikhail Saaka- construction, and facilitate the return of refu- shvili made restoration of Georgian territorial gees and internally displaced persons. Com- integrity his top priority. As part of a robust posed of representatives from Georgia, Russia, antismuggling campaign, Saakashvili closed and North and South Ossetia, the JCC was also the Ergneti market outside Tskhinvali and or- tasked with coordinating the efforts of the Joint dered a significant number of Georgian troops Peacekeeping Forces (JPKF), a peacekeeping to the border of the region. Violence rapidly battalion commanded by the Russians and increased and threatened to drive the conflict composed of 1,500 troops, equally drawn from into war. While an August 2004 cease-fire Russia, Georgia, and North and South Ossetia. agreement ended the direct military confronta- For twelve years there was no military tion in South Ossetia, the zone of conflict con- confrontation between the sides, with South tinues to be a volatile area, with frequent bor- Ossetians establishing their own de facto state der skirmishes and criminal incidents.
131 Peacekeeping_4_v2final.qxd 1/28/08 10:07 AM Page 132
132 • MISSION NOTES
Since November 2006, there have been to solidify the parallel government, including two self-proclaimed, competing governments an 8 May 2007 resolution to establish a tempo- in South Ossetia. The Tskhinvali-based admin- rary administrative unit in South Ossetia. istration, led by Eduard Kokoity and backed Beyond the informal JCC discussions held by Russia, has sought independence from in June and July 2007, Saakashvali’s 2005 Georgia and is generally supported by South plan to build confidence and demilitarize the Ossetians. The Kurta-based administration, conflict zone did not see meaningful progress just a few miles north of Tskhinvali, is sup- during the year in review. Hopes of high-level ported by Tbilisi and was created in a Novem- talks between Tbilisi and Tskhinvali receded ber 2006 parallel election in South Ossetia’s still further on 6 August, when Georgian au- Georgian community. Dmitri Sanakoyev, a thorities reported an unexploded bomb near former member of Kokoity’s administration, the South Ossetian border. Tbilisi lodged a for- was elected on a platform of allegiance to mal protest with Russia, and called for EU and Tbilisi and support of the territorial integrity UN investigations of the matter. Amid this of Georgia. Tbilisi’s support of Sanakoyev heightened tension, the JCC-brokered meet- through 2007 was seen by Russia as an at- ings planned for mid-August fell through, un- tempt to undermine Kokoity and therefore a derscoring the debate over whether the JCC is direct threat to the peace process. Nonetheless, the appropriate mechanism for defrosting the Tbilisi has continued to implement measures conflict.