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Conflict Resolution, Border Security Are Top OSCE Priorities For 200

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  • Conflict Resolution, Border Security Are Top OSCE Priorities For 200

    CONFLICT RESOLUTION, BORDER SECURITY ARE TOP OSCE PRIORITIES FOR 2008

    Gazeta.KZ
    Jan 22 2008
    Kazakhstan

    Trying to solve the protracted Soviet-era conflicts of
    Nagorno-Karabakh, South Ossetia and the Transdniester was among
    Belgium's top priorities when it assumed the rotating leadership of
    the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2006.

    Despite Belgium Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht's anticipation that
    his chairmanship would bring "new opportunities," the year brought
    no substantial progress on any of the three conflicts.

    Spain, which led the OSCE throughout 2007, did not make conflict
    resolution a top priority. Its efforts focused primarily on the
    fight against terrorism and environmental issues, among others. But
    Finland, which assumed the organization's leadership at the beginning
    of this year, intends to turn the spotlight back on the so-called
    "frozen conflicts."

    Addressing the OSCE's Permanent Council in Vienna on January 10,
    Finnish Foreign Minister Ilkka Kanerva said conflict prevention
    and conflict management would "lie at the core of [the Finnish]
    chairmanship."

    "I will use every opportunity to make progress on regional issues in
    close consultation with all parties," he told the panel.

    In a program that was circulated among OSCE ambassadors, Kanerva
    said he would seek "to create enabling conditions for the peaceful
    resolution of regional conflicts" and "encourage all the parties to
    resume negotiations in order to find feasible political resolutions
    of the conflicts."

    Georgia's Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili last October said
    Finland's firm stance against Russia when it held the rotating
    presidency of the European Union the previous year gave him reasons
    to hope that substantial progress would be made on the South Ossetian
    conflict in 2008.

    But with presidential elections scheduled in Armenia and Azerbaijan
    later this year, Finland's task will certainly not be easy -- even
    though its diplomats are generally believed to be more familiar
    with the Soviet-era "frozen conflicts" than their Belgian or Spanish
    counterparts.

    In comments made to Baku's Day.az, an electronic daily, Azerbaijan's
    Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov on December 7 said that because of
    Helsinki's longtime involvement in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks
    he was looking forward to the upcoming Finnish chairmanship. But he
    implicitly warned against setting expectations too high, saying that
    "elections always make the atmosphere of negotiations more sensitive."

    In the years 1995-1996 Finland co-chaired the Minsk Group of nations
    that has been mediating in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks on behalf
    of the OSCE.

    Kanerva told the Permanent Council he had appointed Heikki Talvitie
    to assist and advise him during his chairmanship. Talvitie has served
    as Finland's Minsk Group co-chair and the EU's special representative
    to the South Caucasus. Another former member of Finland's Minsk Group
    co-chairmanship team, Ambassador Terhi Hakala, has been in charge of
    the OSCE Mission to Georgia since October.

    Talking to reporters in Vienna last week, Talvitie said he believed
    there was a "momentum" in Nagorno-Karabakh and that "there might be
    one" in South Ossetia. However, he said Finland should be "realistic"
    as to what it could expect to achieve in the region.

    A member of the Finnish delegation told EurasiaNet on condition
    of anonymity that the new chairman-in-office will concentrate his
    efforts on trying to improve the work of the existing negotiation
    mechanisms in which the OSCE is involved, in particular that of the
    Joint Control Commission (JCC), a quadrilateral body co-chaired by
    Georgian, South Ossetian, North Ossetian and Russian representatives.

    "We're not trying to make a big fuss about our role, but if we can
    help in a technical way that will mean a lot in many other ways,"
    the Finnish diplomat said.

    Negotiations between Tbilisi and Tskhinvali are stalled. Georgia
    accuses Russia and South Ossetia of blocking the implementation of
    all decisions made within the JCC framework and demands that the
    negotiation format be changed.

    The JCC met in a plenary session only once last year. The October
    meeting produced no results, notably because of Tbilisi's insistence
    that Dmitri Sanakoyev, the head of the recently created pro-Georgian
    provisional administration of South Ossetia, be recognized as a
    fully-fledged party to the peace process.

    Asked by EurasiaNet whether Finland would consider engaging with
    Sanakoyev, Talvitie remained non-committal. "Sanakoyev is a new
    element. Let's see in the future if he fits into the picture," he said.

    Beyond the frozen conflicts, Kanerva said in his program that Finland's
    chairmanship would also encourage the OSCE to build stronger relations
    with its Central Asian member states with a view to helping them
    combat human trafficking and the smuggling of arms and drugs. With
    this respect, he says, the organization should put a "specific focus"
    on border security and management.

    In his address to the Permanent Council, Finland's chief diplomat
    pointed out that his country already had contributed more than 500,000
    euros ($745,000) to projects aimed at enhancing the security of the
    Tajik-Afghan border.

    One of the few achievements of the OSCE Ministerial Council that
    took place in Madrid in November was a consensual decision to step
    up the organization's engagement with partner state Afghanistan,
    with a special focus on securing its borders with the Central Asian
    countries of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The Madrid
    decision followed the launching of an OSCE project to train Afghan
    anti-drug police.

    Kanerva last week invited Kazakhstan and Lithuania -- which are
    due to take the helm of the OSCE in 2010 and 2011, respectively --
    to join the organization's current troika "in developing ideas for
    long-term activities."

    The troika is the OSCE's main political decision-making institution.

    It consists of the chairman-in-office, its predecessor, and its
    successor. Kanerva suggested that representatives of the future
    "quintet" meet in Finland this year "to identify possible common
    priorities for the purpose of better planning."
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