40th IPRM in Ergneti
By Natalie Osipovi
Wednesday, December 11
A meeting under the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) in Ergneti was held on December 9. The meeting was co-facilitated by the Head of the European Union Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM), Toivo Klaar and the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office for Conflicts, Andrii Deshchytsia.
The Special Representative of the incoming Swiss OSCE Chairmanship, Angelo Gnaedinger, the Director of the Information-Analytical Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia (MIA) David Sujashvili, and his deputy, Kakha Kemoklidze also attended the meeting.
According to EUMM’s official webpage, the meeting took place in a constructive atmosphere.
One of the main topics of the discussion was the problem of the installation of barbed wire fences in the villages of Ghogheti and Bershueti, [along the administrative border] which confines the freedom of movement and livelihood of the local population. For instance, such restrictions limited the access to the cemetery and the church in Didi Khurvaleti village.
The co-facilitators stimulated all the sides to espouse a constructive approach and inform each other about planned activities on time, because finding practical solutions to the mentioned issues mainly affects local communities.
They also called on participants “to show flexibility towards those accidentally crossing the Administrative Boundary Line (ABL) when visiting relatives or religious sites in the upcoming holiday period.”
The sides agreed on the issue of amnesty for the prisoners who have been arrested.
Six people were released as soon as the law on amnesty came into effect.
“Tskhinvali representatives have been asking for this for a very long time. As for us, we are waiting for similar humane action towards the five people detained for the illegal crossing of the boundary line,” Kemoklidze said.
Following the IPRM, the EUMM and OSCE co-facilitated a meeting with representatives of the office of the General Prosecutor of Georgia, as well as relatives and witnesses, in order to take a further step with regard to the case of the three missing South Ossetian youngsters.
The next IPRM meeting will take place on 21 January 2014.
The Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism was established under the Geneva International Discussions, which is co-chaired by the OSCE, the EU and the UN. It represents a body to address on regular basis security issues on the ground.
