Self-Determination Crisis Watch: Ossetia
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Self-Determination Crisis Watch: Ossetia
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Self-Determination Crisis Watch
16 November 2001
Vol. 1, No. 19
Editor: Tom Barry
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Self-Determination Crisis Watch is an electronic journal sponsored by
Foreign Policy In Focus (FPIF), a joint project of the
Interhemispheric Resource Center and the Institute for Policy Studies.
FPIF, a "think tank without walls," is dedicated to "making the U.S. a
more responsible global leader and partner." The project has received
a grant from the Carnegie Corporation to advance new approaches to
self-determination conflicts through web-based research and analysis.
Crisis Watch presents the latest analysis about self-determination
from our international network of experts. For more information,
please visit our Self-Determination In Focus webpage at
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Table of Contents
*** CONFLICT PROFILE: GEORGIA/SOUTH OSSETIA ***
By Robert Cutler
*** TWO FACES OF THE WEST: CAN WESTERN MUSLIMS ADVANCE A BALANCED VIEW
OF THE WEST? ***
By Muqtedar Khan
*** THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION AND THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN STALEMATE ***
By Stephen Zunes
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*** CONFLICT PROFILE: GEORGIA/SOUTH OSSETIA ***
By Robert Cutler
(Editor's Note: Excerpted from a FPIF conflict profile available in
full at: http://www.fpif.org/selfdetermination/conflicts/ossetia.html
)
Ethnic unrest in Georgia first broke out in South Ossetia under
Gamsakhurdia, but this escalated in mid-1992 under Shevardnadze.
Within a period of weeks over 100,000 refugees fled to North Ossetia,
a part of the Russian Federation. In North Ossetia, ethnic Ingush
refugees in the Prigorodnyi (literally "Suburban") region around the
capital Vladikavkaz were demanding the re-attachment of that region
(severed by Stalin) to Ingushetia. The presence of so many refugees
strained resources, led to disputes and unrest, and resulted in the
appointment of a special prefect from Moscow to head an emergency
administration. Ethnic Ossetes in North and South Ossetia alike began
to call for reunification of their territory. In South Ossetia, Russia
brokered an agreement providing for the deployment of a tripartite
Russian, Georgian, and Ossetian force to guarantee civil peace and
encourage residents to return there.
In 1995 the Georgian Parliament adopted a new constitution that left
open the question of Georgia's territorial and administrative
structure in relation to South Ossetia (as well as Abkhazia).
President Shevardnadze proposed a federal solution. Bilateral talks
began, leading to signature, in Moscow in July 1996, of a framework
agreement officially titled the "Memorandum on Measures to Provide
Security and Strengthen Mutual Trust Between the Sides in the
Georgian-South Ossetian Conflict." (Also in 1996 Georgia changed the
official name of the region from South Ossetia to Tskhinvali, which is
also the name of its administrative center.)
* Profiles of Major Organizations
The Russian Federation plays a leading role in multilateral forums
under the aegis of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE). The OSCE provides political guidance to the Joint
Control Commission (JCC), created by the 1994 agreement. The JCC's
original charge was to oversee the trilateral (Georgian-Russian-South
Ossetian) peacekeeping force. (North Ossetia, which is part of the
Russian Federation, participates autonomously in the activities of the
JCC.) The JCC later expanded its activities later to include promotion
of South Ossetia's economic reintegration into Georgia. In this
connection it has undertaken practical programs for cooperation among
local officials.
This is all the more important in a South Ossetian environment where
the years of dislocation and immiseration, coming simultaneously with
and following immediately upon the breakup of the one-party Soviet
Union, have resulted even in the absence, in South Ossetia, of
political parties; while on the Georgian side, there is no political
force that advocates Ossetia's separation from Georgia, and President
Shevardnadze has been willing to entertain a federal relationship
between Tbilisi and the region.
The United Nations Development Program is only one of a large number
of international institutions contributing to the construction of a
lasting settlement. Also there are many NGOs present, which often try
to coordinate their activities through the Assistance Georgia network.
More extensive information on these and other international actors is
given in the bibliographic references cited below.
* Role of United States
Television pictures of the Georgian repression of the Ossetian
rebellion in 1990 are what first forced the U.S. to focus attention on
the situation. Shevardnadze's arrival in power in mid-1992 brought
unmatched prestige and attention to Georgia in the eyes of the U.S.
Partly because of his personal connections on the international stage,
the U.S. became most interested in his political success, which was
defined to include assuring the territorial integrity of the country
since Shevardnadze's political fate was tied to this. The United
States has relied upon extensive bilateral assistance programs to
improve administration and governance under the Tbilisi regime,
allocated dedicated funding to international nongovernmental
organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross to
help address social problems, and supported the efforts of
multilateral intergovernmental institutions such as the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe to assure broader social and
political stability in the region.
(Robert M. Cutler <[email protected]> <http://www.robertcutler.org/> is
Research Fellow, Institute of European and Russian Studies, Carleton
University, Canada.)
For Related Information
See FPIF's Conflict Profile Index:
http://www.fpif.org/selfdetermination/conflicts/index.html
........
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