Brussels, 21/08/2008 (Agence Europe) - Given the gravity of the humanitarian situation and ethnic cleansing continuing in areas under Russian occupation, Georgia is appealing to the European Union to rapidly send an observation mission to the region, said Georgian Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili, speaking on Wednesday 20 August in Brussels. Speaking to the members of the foreign affairs committee, the sub-committee on security and defence and the delegation for South-Caucasus at the European Parliament during an extraordinary session, Ms Tkeshelashvili said an ESDP mission should be sent to verify the situation on the ground so that the outside world may witness the flagrant violations of the agreement signed with Russia. She stressed how urgent it was to do so.
No third-rate mission. The minister slammed the plan put forward by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), although it had been accepted by Moscow and Tbilissi. The OSCE said it would immediately send a further 20 international observers to the areas adjacent to South Ossetia. The OSCE hopes to deploy up to 100 observers for at least six months, as opposed to eight at present. “The OSCE decision is not very encouraging for us. (…) Twenty people on the ground. How effective is that?”, was Ms Tkeshelashvili's response. She regretted that such reinforcements cannot operate directly in the province of South Ossetia where, she said, Russian troops and South Ossetian militia are taking part in ethnic cleansing operations. The minister therefore called on the EU to send its own observers and suggested the idea of recasting the peacekeeping organisation in Georgia which is still partially entrusted to Russian forces since the dismantling of the Soviet bloc in the early nineties. In this context, the chairman of the EP foreign affairs committee, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski (EPP-EDD, Poland), said he would soon be proposing a resolution calling for the creation of an ESDP mission in Georgia. For now, Russia is opposed to deployment of such a force, but Ms Tkeshelashvili said any decision on whether to invite peacekeepers into Georgia rested solely with her government. EU foreign ministers are expected to discuss the sending of a European force during their informal meeting on 5 and 6 September, in Avignon.
Call for withdrawal of Russian troops. “Russia bluntly disregards the ceasefire” and there are “no signs of a withdrawal of Russian forces”, the minister said, saying, on the contrary, that Russia had even strengthened its military presence in Georgia by building permanent checkpoints allowing some areas, where looting and ethnic cleansing continues, to be brought under its sway. “Russian military presence is not temporary - it is being strengthened and is becoming permanent”, the minister said, adding that the peace plan had therefore not been respected. Ms Tkeshelashvili warned that, if the Russian military presence continues, it will be difficult to imagine there not being escalation, as populations will be forced to react. On Thursday, several media noted that Russian troops stationed in Georgia had begun to pull out of the country but the rate and extent of these withdrawals are inconsequential.
Most MEPs supported Georgia and its people, as did Marie Anne Isler Béguin (Green, France) who said “a war of nerves has been launched against the population of Georgia”, which is the victim of continued Russian oppression. Adam Bielan (UEN, Poland) criticised the fact that “in the ceasefire agreement not a word is said about territorial integrity”. Mr Saryusz-Wolski stressed that the EU should be involved in the reconstruction process. To this end, he called for a revision of the budget to look for additional funding for Georgia. A number of MEPs, however, openly criticised Georgia's action. “How could Saakashvili be so incredibly stupid to walk straight into the trap set for him by Mr Putin?”, asked Andrew Duff (ALDE, Britain). Tobias Pflüger (GUE/NGL, Germany) warned against the danger of sticking to “a very one-sided description of the conflict”, adding that Georgia's attacks on the civil population should be condemned just as much as Russia's action. (B.C./transl.jl)