Georgian-Ossetian conflict
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Georgian-Ossetian conflict refers to the inter-ethnic conflict in Georgia’s former autonomous region of South Ossetia, which evolved in 1989 and developed into a civil war in 1991-1992. Despite a declared ceasefire and numerous peace efforts, the conflict remains unresolved and large part of the region is still out of control of the central Georgian government.
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[edit] Origins of the Conflict
The South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast was created in 1922 after the Soviet occupation of Georgia in the part of historical Georgian province Shida Kartli. Generally speaking, Georgians and Ossetians have been living in peace with each other before except for the episode in 1920. Both ethnicities have had a high level of interaction and the high rate of intermarriages.
In the late 1980s, rising nationalism in Soviet Georgia and country’s movement towards independence were opposed by the Ossetian nationalistic organization, Ademon Nykhas (Popular Front), which demanded greater autonomy for the region and finally, unification with Russia’s North Ossetia. On 10 November 1989, the South Ossetian Supreme Soviet approved a decision to unite South Ossetia with the North Ossetian ASSR, part of Russia. However, a day later, the Georgian SSR Supreme Soviet revoked the decision and on November 23, thousands of Georgian nationalists led by Zviad Gamsakhurdia and other opposition leaders marched to Tskhinvali, the South Ossetian capital, to hold a meeting there. The Ossetians mobilized blocking the road and only the interference of Soviet army units could avoid the clash between the two demonstrations. The Soviet commanders made Georgian demonstrators turn back. However, several people were wounded in subsequent clashes between Georgians and Ossetians.
On 20 September 1990, the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast declared independence as the South Ossetian Democratic Soviet Republic, appealing to Moscow to recognise it as an independent subject of the Soviet Union. When the election of the Georgian Supreme Council took place in October 1990, it was boycotted by the South Ossetians. On December 10, 1990, South Ossetia held its own elections, declared illegal by Georgia. A day later, Georgian Supreme Soviet canceled the results of the Ossetian elections and abolished South Ossetian autonomy.
On December 11, 1990, several bloody incidents occurred in and around Tskhinvali. Georgian government declared a state of emergency in the districts of Tskhinvali and Java on December 12. Georgian police and National Guards units were dispatched in the region to disarm Ossetian armed groups.
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Events
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[edit] The South Ossetian War
[edit] The Ceasefire
Georgian and Ossetian sides began Russian and OSCE-mediated negotiations on peaceful regulation of the conflict on October 30, 1995. The major break through in negotiation happened in May 1996 when the two sides signed a ‘Memorandum on measures for providing security and joint confidence’ in which the two sides renounced the use of force. This has been followed up by several meetings between President of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze and de facto President of South Ossetia Ludvig Chibirov and their respective heads of governments.
Refugees have begun to resettle in the zone of conflict but still only in small numbers, the major obstacle being the economic situation in the region. Numerous small steps of co-operation between Georgians and Ossetians took place.
The absence of central control over the region, the loose authority of the South Ossetian government, and the region’s contiguity to the Russian Federation, through North Ossetia, have made it a haven for organised criminal activity, specifically smuggling. The Ergneti market on the outskirts of Tskhinvali was the main economic black hole into which vast amounts of Russian contraband fuel, cigarettes, alcohol and wheat flour were pouring – robbing Georgia of revenues and propping up the breakaway region. Kidnapping, drugs and weapon business and trafficking are also common.
[edit] The 2004 Flare-up
In May 2004, following the success in another poorly-controlled province of Ajara, President Mikheil Saakashvili’s government turned their attention to South Ossetia. Saakashvili offered humanitarian aid to both Georgian and Ossetian population and promised to give the region a broad autonomy.[1]
In mid-June, Georgian police shut down the Ergneti market which was a major trading point for tax-free goods from Russia and established strong measures to combat smuggling, the mainstay of the local economy.
The Georgian efforts tensioned the situation. In retaliation, South Ossetian forces closed the highway between Russia and Georgia for several days. Georgia’s regional administration began to restore the roads between Georgian-populated Patara Liakhvi and Didi Liakhvi gorges by-passing separatist-controlled capital Tskhinvali and dispatched military patrols to control them. On July 7, Georgian peacekeepers intercepted a Russian convoy carrying military equipment, including missiles, which led to tensions between Tbilisi and Moscow. The next day, around 50 Georgian peacekeepers were disarmed and detained by the South Ossetian militias. In retaliation, Saakashvili refused to attend peace talks. Large numbers of Georgian and Ossetian forces moved into the border areas, and there was frequent shooting for several days. The Georgian soldiers captured were all released on July 9, with three exceptions. Tensions between Tbilisi and Moscow continued to worsen when the Russian Duma passed a resolution supporting the South Ossetian secessionists. The fellow unrecognized states Abkhazia and Transnistria, Cossack communities of Russia and the North Ossetians promised to support South Ossetia if Georgia attacked. Hundreds of Russian volunteers, mainly Cossacks arrived in South Ossetia to defend the separatist government. A ceasefire deal was reached on August 13, after three nights of gun and mortar fire. The agreement was signed by Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and South Ossetian de facto President Eduard Kokoity. But the agreement was violated shortly after the signing. The bloodiest clashes occurred on August 18-19. On August 19, after the overnight fighting with several killed and wounded on the both sides, Georgian forces seized a strategic hill near the Ossetian village of Trianakhana, from which the South Ossetian militias and volunteers were shelling Georgian villages. However, shortly after the successful operation, President Mikheil Saakashvili announced that Georgia will give “a last chance for peace” to the South Ossetians and added that Tbilisi will pullout its non-peacekeeping troops from the conflict zone in exchange of peace. Georgian troops handed over strategic hilltops in the conflict zone to the joint peacekeeping forces late on the same day. As reported, 16 Georgians and dozens of Ossetian and Russian volunteers died during the August fightings.
At a high level meeting between Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity on 5 November in Sochi, Russia, an agreement on demilitarisation of the conflict zone was signed. Some exchange of fire continued in the zone of conflict, apparently primarily initiated by the Ossetian side,[2]
[edit] New peace efforts
President Mikheil Saakashvili presented a Georgian vision for resolving the South Ossetian conflict at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) session in Strasbourg on January 26, 2005. Proposals included broader form of autonomy, a constitutional guarantee of Autonomy that includes their right to freely and directly elected local self-governance. Mr. Saakashvili stated South Ossetia’s parliament would have control over issues such as culture, education, social policy, economic policy, public order, organization of local self-governance and environmental protection. At the same time South Ossetia would have a voice in the national structures of government as well, with a constitutional guarantee of representation in the national government, judicial and constitutional-judicial branches and in the Parliament. Georgia would commit to improving the economic and social conditions of South Ossetian inhabitants. Saakashvili proposed a transitional 3-year conflict resolution period, during which time mixed Georgian and Ossetian police forces, under the guidance and auspices of international organizations, would be established and Ossetian forces would gradually be integrated into a united Georgian Armed Forces. Saakashvili also said that the international community should play a more “significant” and “visible” role in solving this conflict.
As several hostage incidents, minor skirmishes and organized criminal activities still continue to plunder the region, Georgia insists that the Russian-led peacekeeping operation and the format of negotiations has exhausted their potential and the U.S. and the OSCE should play more active role in the conflict resolution. Saakashvili’s government has recently intensified international efforts on S. Ossetian problems. Late in October, the U.S. Government and the OSCE expressed their support to the Georgian action plan presented by Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli at the OSCE Permanent Council at Vienna on October 27, 2005. On December 6, the OSCE Ministerial Council in Ljubljana unanimously adopted a resolution supporting the Georgian peace plan over South Ossetia.[3]
[edit] 2006 Georgian helicopter attack
On September 3, 2006, the South Ossetian forces opened fire at a Georgian MI-8 helicopter carrying Defense Minister of Georgia, Irakli Okruashvili, and the Deputy Chief of Staff of the Georgian armed forces, when it flew over the separatist-held territory. Although the South Ossetian authorities reported that the Georgian helicopter was "shot down", it was only slightly damaged and landed safely in Georgian government-controlled territory.
Six days later, a shootout killed four people.[4]
[edit] 2006 Chechen militants incident
On October 31, 2006, the South Ossetian police in the Dzhava district engaged in a skirmish and killed a group of 4 men.[5] [6] The weapons seized from the group included assault rifles, guns, grenade launchers, grenades and explosive devices. Other items found in the militants' possession included extremist Islamic literature, maps of Dzhava district and sets of Russian peacekeeping uniforms. Those findings led the South Ossetian authorities to conclude that the militants were planning to carry out acts of sabotage, thus raising tensions ahead of the independence referendum scheduled for November 12, 2006. The South Ossetian authorities identified the men as Kist Chechens, many of whom live in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge. South Ossetia has accused Georgia of hiring the Chechen mercenaries to carry out terrorist attacks in the region. Russia has previously also accused Georgian of harboring the Chechen terrorists in the gorge.
The Georgian side flatly denied its involvement in the incident. Shota Khizanishvilia, a spokesperson for the Georgian Interior Ministry, supposed that the incident could be connected to "internal conflicts in South Ossetia".
[edit] Notes
- ^ Georgia unveils settlement offer, The BBC News, January 25, 2005.
- ^ Georgia: Avoiding War in South Ossetia, International Crisis Group Report No159, 26 November 2004.
- ^ Statement on Georgia. Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Retrieved on September 19, 2006.
- ^ Four Die in South Ossetia Skirmish. UNA Georgia Online Magazine (September 8, 2006). Retrieved on September 19, 2006.
- ^ South Ossetia Announces Thwarting a Terrorist Plot, Kommersant, November 1, 2006.
- ^ Four Chechen gunmen killed in South Ossetia, EuroNews, November 1, 2006.
