EU's Georgia observer mission kicks off

01/10/2008

Six weeks after the conflict between Russia and Georgia, an EU mission aimed at stabilising the region and ensuring the parties' compliance with an August cease-fire kicked off on Wednesday.

(AP, Reuters, AFP, DPA, BBC, FT, Bloomberg - 01/10/08; Reuters, AFP, DPA, BBC, International Herald Tribune, VOA - 30/09/08)

EU observers leave their base in the Georgian town of Mukhrani to monitor a cease-fire and oversee a Russian pullback after fighting in August. [Getty Images]

An EU mission, aimed at contributing to stability in Georgia, began operations Wednesday (October 1st), as unarmed observers from the 27-nation bloc started monitoring a cease-fire that ended the country's five-day conflict with Russia this summer.

More than 200 unarmed monitors from 22 EU member nations have gone to Georgia to oversee the withdrawal of Russian forces from two buffer zones adjacent to the former Soviet republic's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

On August 7th, the Georgian Army launched an offensive to regain control of South Ossetia. Russia reacted immediately with massive military action, including air raids deep inside Georgian territory, well beyond the borders of the disputed province.

An EU-brokered agreement Moscow and Tbilisi signed on August 12th called on both sides to pull their troops to their pre-conflict positions. Russia nonetheless set up "security zones" around South Ossetia and Abkhazia and recognised the two regions as independent states on August 26th, prompting strong Western condemnation.

Under an updated peace plan of September 8th, Russian forces must fully withdraw from the two buffer zones within ten days of the deployment of EU monitors.

Speaking on the eve of the launch of the EU Monitoring Mission (EUMM), EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana voiced optimism that both sides will comply with the treaty and that Moscow will pull back its troops within the agreed deadline.

"We hope very much and we are sure that before October 10th that part of the mission will be completed," he said in Tbilisi on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, the Russian military indicated it would block EU observers from entering the buffer zones. But the monitors reportedly entered the zone around South Ossetia without incident as they began work Wednesday.

Reports Wednesday suggest the EU patrols were able to visit a number of villages within the buffer zone and talk to residents before returning to their bases. But Russian forces blocked reporters from following the observers.

The EUMM, headed by German diplomat Hansjoerg Haber, has its headquarters in Tbilisi. The EU monitors have four field offices -- near Lake Basaleti, about 20km north of the Georgian capital, and in Gori, Poti and Zugdidi.

Haber urged the monitors to "show the flag, be friendly, show confidence".

Russia is planning to keep nearly 8,000 troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia and has repeatedly refused to allow the EU monitors access to the two regions.

Observers expect the issue to arise again during a new round of talks between EU and Russian officials, scheduled in Geneva later this month.