Georgia: Uneasy calm prevails in South Ossetia conflict zone

Molly Corso and Kakha Jibladze

One day after Georgia's parliament voted to terminate the mandate of Russian peacekeepers in the South Ossetia conflict zone, Georgian villagers living in the region expressed fear that a resumption of armed conflict is just a matter of time.

Amidst an uneasy calm, Russian peacekeepers still stood at their posts on February 16 outside the Georgian village of Ergneti, not far from the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali. But while there were no outward signs of tension, villagers expressed mixed feelings about Georgian plans to force Russian troops from the zone.

"On one hand, the population says that it is good, but others say that it doesn't make a difference," said Eteri Mosiashvili, a resident of Ergneti, the former site of a sprawling contraband market for goods from Russia. "It seems peaceful here, but if you want the truth ... everything is not calm. It is tense. People are still afraid."

Like most of the Georgian villagers interviewed in the conflict zone, Mosiashvili supported the withdrawal of Russian troops as a so-called "third party" to the conflict. Once the Russians are gone, she said, "I believe there will be peace between Georgians and Ossetians."

In a unanimous vote on February 15, the Georgian parliament passed a non-binding resolution that evaluated the performance of Russian peacekeepers in the conflict zone as "extremely negative"' and charged that the Russian Federation is attempting to annex the breakaway region. While calling for the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers, the Georgian resolution set no deadline. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Anzori Vakhtangishvili, a teacher in Ergneti, also believes Russia is at the root of the problem between Georgia and South Ossetia. "I don't think that the Russian bases will leave soon," he said. "I think that Russia is creating a provocation and will then regulate it itself. Then it will tell the world 'If we had not been here, they would have killed each other.'"

But other residents believe that the problem is more complex - and that one parliamentary resolution will do little to improve relations between Tbilisi and the separatist government in Tskhinvali. Parliament's decision will not be enough to stop an eventual renewal of fighting between Georgians and Ossetians, commented Ergneti villager Avto Eradze. "Everyday the situation gets worse," he said. "They [Ossetians] walk with weapons openly. They all want war."

Irma Goginashvili, a Georgian resident of Tskhinvali crossing the makeshift border between Ergneti and South Ossetia, said that she was uncertain what to expect. "I heard about what the parliament decided. That is good, but when that law [the resolution demanding the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers] will start is another question," she said.

Goginashvili said the time for negotiations and resolutions had passed. "We have a saying; 'only the grave cures a hunchback.' They [the Ossetians] need to be met with strength. They don't need negotiations. They [the Georgian government] need to either shoot them or beat them."

Parliament has called for new, 'effective' international peacekeeping forces to replace Russian troops, and for the revision of the 1992 Sochi agreement that outlines the role of peacekeepers in South Ossetia. The resolution has sparked outrage from Moscow, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warning Tbilisi on February 15 that its actions in the conflict zone were "over the top." Members of the Russian State Duma have openly accused Georgia of plotting a war, while military commanders have claimed that the removal of Russian peacekeepers will prompt a repetition of the 1992 war between Georgia and the breakaway region.

"We should condemn these decisions and clearly define our position that Russian peacekeepers stay in this zone to maintain peace," State Duma Chairman Boris Gryzlov told Russian reporters on February 16, local media reported. "If events develop under the Georgian scenario, I am sure that it will be impossible to maintain peace and it will lead to victims on both sides."

Russian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Yuri Baluyevsky added to that argument on Thursday by telling journalists in the Russian city of Ryazan that "[i]f the peacekeepers leave, something that we saw in 1992 - a civil war - could resume," the Russian news agency Interfax reported.

Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Giorgi Khaindrava, however, has scoffed at Russian warnings and argued that bringing in more countries in a peacekeeping capacity would advance the peace process in South Ossetia. ""I do not see anything dangerous in this, and don't understand why our opponents are against it," Khaindrava told journalists in Moscow on February 16. Khaindrava had traveled to the Russian capital to meet with foreign ministry officials ahead of a February 20-21 meeting in Vienna of the Joint Control Commission, which monitors the 1992 Georgian-South Ossetian cease-fire.

"If help from the West is acceptable from an economic point of view, and all projects in the Tskhinvali district at this stage are financed by the EU [European Union] and the OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe], then why shouldn't these countries take part in the peacekeeping process and peacekeeping operations?" the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported Khaindrava as saying.

Meanwhile, in an official response to the war of words between Moscow and Tbilisi, OSCE Chairman-in-Office and Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht, has called on Georgia to take "a measured response" to the parliamentary resolution, and for both Russia and Georgia to exercise restraint in sorting out their differences.

OSCE hopes for progress appear to center on next week's meeting of the Joint Control Commission. In preparation for the meeting, Pierre Chevalier, De Gucht's personal envoy to Georgia, met with several Georgian officials, including President Mikheil Saakashvili to discuss the situation in the conflict zone. In remarks broadcast on Georgia's Imedi television channel, Chevalier stated that he would hold talks also with Russian and South Ossetian representatives before reporting back to De Gucht.

"A possible solution, a peaceful solution [to] the conflict is very high on the agenda of the [OSCE] Belgian chairmanship," Chevalier commented. "So we call upon all parties involved in the conflict to use all diplomatic means to reach a peaceful solution."

Editor's Note: Molly Corso is a freelance photographer and writer based in Tbilisi. Kakha Jibladze is a freelance reporter and translator based in Tbilisi.