Showing posts with label OSCE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label OSCE. Show all posts

Monday, August 11, 2008

Ceasefire bid amid Georgia crisis

The BBC reports:

Russia and Georgia have accused each other of launching new attacks, as diplomats press for a ceasefire in the conflict over South Ossetia.

Georgia said dozens of Russian bombers attacked targets inside its territory, including around Tbilisi and Gori.

Russia said Georgian attacks on the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali killed three of its troops.

Georgia's president backed a draft EU ceasefire proposal for a ceasefire, but Moscow reportedly rejected the plan.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, heading a delegation to the Georgian capital, told the BBC that President Mikhail Saakashvili signed a document outlining EU proposals for a ceasefire, controlled withdrawals of troops on both sides and eventual political talks.

The delegation would now go to Moscow, Mr Kouchner said, to convince President Dmitry Medvedev to back the plan.

But reports from Moscow suggested the Kremlin had quickly rejected the draft plan, saying Georgia was continuing to use military force.

The Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, also spoke out, criticising the US for transporting Georgian troops from Iraq to redeploy to the conflict at home.

Earlier, Mr Medvedev accused Georgia of "genocide" in South Ossetia but said Russian troops were now in control of Tskhinvali and Moscow's military push was "largely complete".

The head of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, accompanying Mr Kouchner, said he could not predict when the conflict would end, saying only that he was "optimistic" a cessation of violence could begin "in the next few days".

Targets hit

Fighting over South Ossetia erupted late last week when Georgia launched an overnight assault on the territory, which has had de facto independence since the end of a war in 1992.

Russia, which supports the breakaway province, hit back, bombing targets throughout Georgia.

The latest reports of violence came despite Georgia saying on Sunday that it would observe a ceasefire. Moscow has insisted Georgian forces withdraw fully from South Ossetia before it halts operations.

From Tbilisi, Georgia said up to 50 Russian fighter jets attacked targets inside Georgia overnight, with targets including a missile base and a radar station.

Georgia said the town of Gori, close to the South Ossetian border and used as a jumping-off point for Georgia's push into South Ossetia, also came under overnight attack.

Elsewhere in Georgia, tensions were rising in Abkhazia, another separatist region.

Reports said a Russian general issued an ultimatum to Georgian forces to pull out of Abkhazia's Kodori Gorge or Russia would send in its troops. Earlier, reports in Moscow said 9,000 Russian troops were being deployed to Abkhazia.

On Sunday, separatist leaders in Abkhazia announced a full mobilisation in order to drive Georgian troops from part of the region, and gave them a deadline to leave.

Georgia has accused Russia of landing 4,000 more troops in Abkhazia via the Black Sea. The separatists said Georgia had deployed a similar number of soldiers south of the Abkhaz border.

'Very firm'

Overnight, US President George W Bush was strongly critical of Russia's military strikes against Georgia.

Speaking in Beijing, US President Bush told NBC TV that he had spoken frankly to Mr Putin when the pair met at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games last week.

"I said this violence is unacceptable," Mr Bush said, adding: "I was very firm with Vladimir Putin. Hopefully this will get resolved peacefully."

However, in a telephone call to President Saakashvili, the US Vice-President, Dick Cheney, said Russian aggression "must not go unanswered".

But White House officials refused to speculate on what America might do if the Russian military action continued.

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) has called on the parties to the conflict to grant safe passage to civilians trying to escape the war zone - estimated at up to 20,000 within Georgia, with some 30,000 fleeing into the Russian province of North Ossetia.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Guide to the Georgian Parliamentary Elections

The Messenger released this guide to the elections:

Once scheduled for this fall, these elections were moved forward at voter insistence after the crisis of November 2007. To defuse tensions, President Mikheil Saakashvili called a snap presidential election for January, which was eventually accompanied by two referendums. One asked whether parliamentary elections should be rescheduled for spring, the other whether voters supported Georgian membership in NATO. Voters overwhelmingly favored holding parliamentary elections in spring. In April, Saakashvili announced the vote would be held on May 21.

Who’s running?

Three blocs and nine parties are competing.

1. Georgian Politics
2. Republican Party
3. Alliance of the Rights, Topadze-Industrialists
4. Labor Party
5. United National Movement-For Victorious Georgia
6. Georgian Sportsmen Union
7. United Opposition (National Council, New Rights)
8. National Party of Radical-Democrats of the whole Georgia
9. Christian-Democratic Alliance
10. Christian Democrats
11. Traditionalists-Our Georgia and Women Party
12. Our Country

The ruling National Movement, the United Opposition, the Christian Democrats, the Labor Party and the Republicans are expected to perform most strongly.

Who’s watching

More than a dozen foreign organizations are sending over 800 observers, including the OSCE and the US National Democratic Institute. Over 30 local NGOs are also expected to keep an eye on the polls.

Who’s voting

The total number of eligible voters was 3,465,736 as of May 12, according to the Central Election Commission.

Votes can be cast from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m Tbilisi time at a total of 3 358 regular precinct election commissions and 72 special polling stations in Georgia. Another 47 polling stations were opened abroad.

Who’s counting

There will be exit polling today, jointly carried out by a group including a state university, the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies and the small Washington-based firm QEV Analytics.

The exit poll project has attracted criticism from opposition campaigners, who claim it will be biased in favor of the ruling party. They have called on supporters to boycott the polling.

Exit polling and other survey results are not allowed to be published or broadcast until the polls close today.

Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT)—a process in which observers count votes at the same time election officials do—will be conducted by the New Generation-New Initiative NGO. It plans to carry out PVT in all election districts in the country and will dispatch a total of 1500 observers.

The first official results are expected late tonight or early tomorrow.

The rules

• Parliament is shrinking from 235 to 150 seats, all of which are up for grabs today. 75 MPs will be elected through country-wide party lists, and 75 party-nominated MPs will be elected from individual districts, one MP per district.
• Parties must get at least five percent of the vote to win seats in the party list voting
• The top candidate in the 75 district races—those for ‘majoritarian’ seats—must win at least 30 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff
• Unlike the January presidential election, Georgians may not register to vote on the day of the election
• TV and radio broadcasts of election ads were required to stop 24 hours before election day.
• The CEC announces final election results by June 8

How it’s looking so far

In its second interim report, released last week, the OSCE election observer mission said it has received numerous allegations of violations—including widespread intimidation, illegal campaigning by civil servants and abuse of administrative resources—some of which it has substantiated.

It also noted the low level of preparedness at some precinct election commissions and suggested that media coverage of election campaigns favors the ruling party.

A delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, visiting Georgia at the end of April, expressed concern at the low level of public trust in the electoral process.

Government officials have strongly called for clean and democratic elections.

The day after

Leaders of the United Opposition have already called for demonstrations outside the Central Election Commission building at 11 p.m. tonight, when they say they will present the “real” results of the elections.

A large discrepancy between opposition expectations and official results could spur rallies over the next several days. With opposition campaign rhetoric explicitly warning of a revolution, the atmosphere will be tense.

Friday, September 7, 2007

OSCE tries to unravel Russia-Georgia missile muddle

“A dangerous situation”, that's the way Miomir Zuzul, from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, described allegations by Georgia that Russia fired a missile at it last month.

The Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office was looking into Tbilisi's claim that on August 6, a Russian SU-24 jet fired a missile onto its territory near the village of Tsitelubani, close to the border with Georgia’s breakaway Republic of Abkhazia. [More]

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

OSCE to present findings on Georgia-Russia missile row

Europe’s leading security watchdog will present its findings Thursday on an alleged Russian missile strike on Georgian territory last month, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said.

Officials from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are preparing a report on the incident following meetings in Georgia and Russia, said Moratinos, who holds the rotating OSCE chairmanship. [More]