Georgia is expected to ask for an international peacekeeping force in the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia during the second round of talks in the wake of its war with Russia this summer. The Georgian Foreign Ministry wants the international troops to replace Russian forces currently in the areas, reported the RIA Novosti news service. Georgia is also expected to ask during talks on Wednesday, Nov. 19, for a Russian troop withdrawal from areas where it says the Russian forces are in violation of a French-brokered ceasefire. South Ossetia, for its part, accused Georgia over the weekend of violating the agreement and firing at a sentry post inside the rebel region. Russia, which has recognized South Ossetia's and Abkhazia's unilateral declarations of independence, said it was placing 3,800 troops in each region to protect the local populations from Georgian attacks. The second round of talks is scheduled to occur in working groups, with no plenary meeting planned.
The Georgian Foreign Ministry wants the international troops to replace Russian forces currently in the areas, reported the RIA Novosti news service.
Georgia is also expected to ask during talks on Wednesday, Nov. 19, for a Russian troop withdrawal from areas where it says the Russian forces are in violation of a French-brokered ceasefire.
South Ossetia, for its part, accused Georgia over the weekend of violating the agreement and firing at a sentry post inside the rebel region.
Russia, which has recognized South Ossetia's and Abkhazia's unilateral declarations of independence, said it was placing 3,800 troops in each region to protect the local populations from Georgian attacks.
The second round of talks is scheduled to occur in working groups, with no plenary meeting planned.
All the delegations attended "constructive" talks on the Russia-Georgia conflict Wednesday, Nov. 19 and agreed to meet again for another round of negotiations next month, the EU representative to the discussions said. "We had constructive meetings of the two working groups," said Pierre Morel, the EU's special representative to Georgia. As planned, the two groups, with eight delegations in total, met on security and refugee issues for about three hours each. The first round of talks last month ended with Moscow and Tbilisi accusing each other of walking out without the two sides having sat in the same room. "Today, we have taken a big step forward," said Morel, adding that the talks had entered a "fully operational phase."
"We had constructive meetings of the two working groups," said Pierre Morel, the EU's special representative to Georgia. As planned, the two groups, with eight delegations in total, met on security and refugee issues for about three hours each.
The first round of talks last month ended with Moscow and Tbilisi accusing each other of walking out without the two sides having sat in the same room.
"Today, we have taken a big step forward," said Morel, adding that the talks had entered a "fully operational phase."
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU is getting ready to adopt a wide-ranging mandate for a "truth mission" to investigate who started the war in Georgia, as allegations fly over Georgia's shelling of Tskhinvali, the capital of the rebel-held South Ossetia region. "The mission's objective will be to enquire into the origins and evolution of the conflict that started on 7 August 2008, with reference to international law and human rights law. The geographic and temporal scope of the enquiry must be sufficiently large to determine all the possible causes," the EU's draft decision on the enquiry says, a diplomatic contact familiar with the text told EUobserver. A lake in the Alps: Ms Tagliavini's Swiss nationality is to underline the committee's neutrality The proposed EU mandate asks the mission to present a final report to the EU, the UN, the OSCE, Russia and Georgia on 30 November 2009. The international committee is to be chaired by Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini and will be funded out of the EU's €249 million Common Foreign and Security Policy budget for 2009.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU is getting ready to adopt a wide-ranging mandate for a "truth mission" to investigate who started the war in Georgia, as allegations fly over Georgia's shelling of Tskhinvali, the capital of the rebel-held South Ossetia region.
"The mission's objective will be to enquire into the origins and evolution of the conflict that started on 7 August 2008, with reference to international law and human rights law. The geographic and temporal scope of the enquiry must be sufficiently large to determine all the possible causes," the EU's draft decision on the enquiry says, a diplomatic contact familiar with the text told EUobserver.
A lake in the Alps: Ms Tagliavini's Swiss nationality is to underline the committee's neutrality
The proposed EU mandate asks the mission to present a final report to the EU, the UN, the OSCE, Russia and Georgia on 30 November 2009.
The international committee is to be chaired by Swiss diplomat Heidi Tagliavini and will be funded out of the EU's €249 million Common Foreign and Security Policy budget for 2009.
