Despite declarations about adherence to exclusively peaceful ways of conflict resolution, the Georgian leadership has now taken a treacherous decision to start military operations against the people of South Ossetia. Hundreds of civilians are dead and wounded, the hospital, schools accommodation blocks in Tskhinval have been destroyed. Barbaric shelling of the civilian population testifies to a gross transgression by Georgia of human rights and has caused a desperate humanitarian disaster across the whole of South Ossetia.
One can hardly call Georgia's recent actions spontaneous. They are a deliberate fulfilment of Tbilisi's plans to undermine the existing negotiation and peacekeeping formats. In his recent interviews the State Minister of Georgia Temur Jacobashvili has spoken openly about Georgia's intention to liquidate these formats.
We cannot but be concerned by the fact that at a time when so much attention from the international community is focused on our region, and just after the visits to Tbilisi of highly placed officials from world powers, Georgia has permitted itself yet again to resort to military force to attain its goals. This demonstrates that too often Tbilisi succeeds in avoiding having to take responsibility for its criminal actions, which destabilize the situation in the Caucasus and place under threat the lives of thousands of people.
In the current situation we expect from the international community, from all countries and organizations involved in the resolution process an unambiguous assessment of the actions of Georgia. We consider that the international community is well placed and obliged to use all levers at its disposal to put a stop to Georgian aggression, if it so wishes.
Centre for Humanitarian Programmes - Arda Inal Ipa, Ilana Kvarchelia, Asida Shakril, Irakliy Hintba
- Why South Ossetia, why now? By Peter Lavelle
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