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Russia and Georgia delegates make a fresh bid for talks

Russian and Georgian delegates were to gather at the UN headquarters in Geneva yesterday in a fresh bid to tackle issues left over from their brief conflict after a previous attempt ended in failure.

The EU, which is co-hosting the talks along with the UN and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), has decided this time to go for an “informal approach so as not to offend any sensibilities,” a European diplomatic source said.

The first round of talks last month made no headway, with both sides blaming each other for the failure even before enter ing the same room.

A key sticking point was the inclusion or not of delegations from the breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia — whose independence has been recognized by Moscow, but which Tbilisi insists still form part of Georgian sovereign territory.

Russian troops and tanks rolled into Georgia on Aug. 8 to push back a Georgian offensive to retake South Ossetia.

Russia has since withdrawn from most of Georgia in line with an EU-brokered ceasefire, but Tbilisi is furious at the continued presence of 7,600 Russian troops in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

For yesterday’s talks, each delegation “is free to include whichever people they want,” the European source said, adding that it was not yet clear who would make up the delegations from the two breakaway republics.

Two working groups are scheduled, one looking at regional security and stability, and the other at refugees and displaced people, the source said.

The EU is “optimistic” that the talks will turn out better this time than before but stressed that sensitivity will be the order of the day.

“We have to cope with touchiness on all sides. Three months ago, these people were shooting at each other,” the source said.

Tensions remain high in the region, and the French EU presidency earlier this week condemned recent violence that left at least three dead and endangered European observers.

Two Georgian police officers were killed when a bomb exploded in the village of Dvani, near the disputed region of South Ossetia on Monday last week, the Georgian government said.

A ceasefire brokered by the EU has been in place since August and EU monitors are patrolling areas near Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
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