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OSCE Fails to Gain Powers as Old Conflicts Smolder

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  • OSCE Fails to Gain Powers as Old Conflicts Smolder

    Moscow Times, Russia
    Dec 5 2010


    OSCE Fails to Gain Powers as Old Conflicts Smolder


    05 December 2010
    Reuters
    ASTANA, Kazakhstan - Unresolved conflicts across the former Soviet
    Union thwarted attempts by Europe's main security watchdog to adopt
    new powers Friday, sending world leaders home empty-handed from the
    first OSCE summit in more than a decade.

    The 56-member state Organization for Security and Cooperation in
    Europe could not agree on a new "action plan" to tackle conflicts
    after two days of talks that dragged into the early hours of Friday in
    Kazakhstan's windswept capital.

    Instead, they signed the Astana Commemorative Declaration, which
    renewed their previous commitment to principles of a free and
    democratic security community from Vancouver to Vladivostok.

    Thirty-eight heads of state traveled to Kazakhstan, the first former
    Soviet country to chair the OSCE. Many had already left by the time
    marathon talks wrapped up, leaving delegates to deliver some stinging
    messages about a lack of progress.

    The United States said the adoption of a more meaningful declaration
    had snagged on old conflicts including Moldova's rebel Transdnestr
    region, Georgia's breakaway regions and the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute
    between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

    "We could not accept an action plan at the first OSCE summit in 11
    years that failed to adequately address the most serious and enduring
    threats to our security," a U.S. delegation representative said in
    closing remarks.

    Failure to empower the OSCE underlined doubts among many that the
    uneasy mix grouping Western democracies with former Soviet republics
    has the teeth or the will to prevent conflicts and ensure adherence to
    even basic human rights.

    "If we're going to have a text, let's have a text with real substance
    in it, which doesn't simply try and brush every awkward issue under
    the carpet," British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said.

    The Czech delegation, summing up its position, said in a statement:
    "The action plan should have defined a practical way to continue to
    restore trust and confidence among OSCE participating states.

    "This opportunity was lost. So was the relevance of the OSCE."

    Sharp Rhetoric
    A Russian delegation representative said "compromise became impossible
    due to the dogmatized approach by some participants to the negotiating
    process." He did not elaborate.

    Russia came under pressure during the summit from both Georgia and
    Moldova for not withdrawing its troops from both countries' pro-Moscow
    rebel regions - a commitment made by the Kremlin during the last OSCE
    summit in Istanbul in 1999.

    And far from its stated aim of narrowing the gap between Azerbaijan
    and Armenia on the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, the summit
    drew sharp rhetoric from both sides after the worst year of skirmishes
    since a 1994 cease-fire.

    Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan threatened to recognize the
    Armenian-backed mountain enclave as independent if Azerbaijan acted on
    its threat to use force to take the territory back.

    Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has used the summit to
    promote his oil-rich nation and its futuristic capital, saved face
    with the signing of the Astana declaration and told reporters that the
    "historic" summit was a success.

    "It demolished the decrepit wall between Europe and Asia and enriched
    the Helsinki spirit with the Astana spirit," he said.

    The OSCE held its first summit in the Finnish capital during the Cold
    War in 1975.

    Nazarbayev, a 70-year-old former steelworker who has run Kazakhstan
    for more than two decades, had earlier given the floor to Italian
    Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in an attempt to garner support for a
    declaration.

    "By holding this OSCE summit, Kazakhstan is today becoming a hero in
    the world arena, acquiring a widely deserved authority and prestige,"
    Berlusconi said.




    From: A. Papazian
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