IPRM meeting held in Ergneti

An Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism meeting was held in the village of Ergneti between the Georgian, Russian and the de facto South Ossetian sides, with the participation of EU Monitoring Mission and the OSCE representatives on December 10. The sides discussed several incidents, head of the EU Monitoring Mission, Hansjorg Haber told journalists. “These talks were held ahead of Geneva negotiations [planned for December 16] and several incidents recorded by the EUMM monitors were discussed, as well as the issues of security,” Georgian media outlets quoted Haber as saying.

Head of the Georgian delegation, Georgian Interior Ministry Analytical Department Chief, Shota Utiashvili said the sides talked about “several proposals, however the solutions to those issues have not yet been agreed.” “We hope that the people who are in jail [in Tskhinvali} will soon return to their homes. However nothing has been decided yet, so I do not want to give false hopes,” Utiashvili told Rustavi 2 TV Company.

The de facto South Ossetian authorities said after the meeting that they are “on the whole satisfied with the result of the talks.” Speaking to the journalists, the head of the de facto delegation, Merab Chigoev noted that they raised the issue of the missing South Ossetian “citizens”, allegedly imprisoned in Georgian jails. “We know that at least five of seven of the missing South Ossetian citizens are in the hands of the Georgian law enforcers,” Chigoev noted “On our question on any new information about their fate, the Georgian side and the EUMM representatives said that they do not possess such information,” he added.

According to the statement released by the OSCE, the discussion took place in a “constructive atmosphere.” The sides agreed to hold the next meeting on January 21, 2011.