GEORGIA CONFLICT 2008 - AUGUST 16-19

GEORGIA CONFLICT 2008

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AUGUST 16, 2008
On August 16th, in the morning, Russian President Medvedev officially signed the European Union brokered cease-fire agreemnent.

Under the terms of the agreement, 1500 Russian troops will remain in the Georgian separatist provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia and can patrol a buffer zone of five miles outside of those provinces but cannot patrol in Gori and other Georgian cities or hamper aid distribution or control ports, highways or railroads. The Russians will remain until a group of international peacekeepers is identified, accepted, and deployed to the two Provinces.

U.S. PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH Statement, August 16, 2008

Good morning. I just had a briefing by my national security team on the latest updates -- on the latest developments in Georgia. And there is some progress to report.

First of all, I want to thank Secretary of State Rice for her trip, and thank you for coming back here to Crawford to give me a firsthand briefing.

She went to Tbilisi, met with President Saakashvili and his team. And during that time, the President signed the six-point peace plan negotiated by President Sarkozy on behalf of the European Union. President Medvedev of Russia has now signed on to the terms of this agreement. And that's an important development; it's a hopeful step.

Now Russia needs to honor the agreement and withdraw its forces, and of course end military operations.

Secretary Rice will soon travel to Brussels, where she will meet with the foreign ministers of our NATO allies and EU officials to continue to rally the free world in the defense of a free Georgia.

This morning also was briefed by Secretary Gates on the U.S. military's humanitarian mission to help the Georgian people recover from the trauma they have suffered. In recent days, military flights have landed in Georgia to provide relief supplies, and more will be arriving in the days ahead.

A major issue is Russia's contention that the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia may not be a part of Georgia's future. But these regions are a part of Georgia, and the international community has repeatedly made clear that they will remain so. Georgia is a member of the United Nations, and South Ossetia and Abkhazia lie within its internationally recognized borders. Georgia's borders should command the same respect as every other nation's.

There's no room for debate on this matter. The United Nations Security Council has adopted numerous resolutions concerning Georgia. These resolutions are based on the premise that South Ossetia and Abkhazia remain within the borders of Georgia and that their underlying conflicts will be resolved through international negotiations. These resolutions are based on the premise that South Ossetia and Abkhazia are to be considered a part of the Georgian territory, and to the extent there's conflicts they will be resolved peacefully.

These resolutions reaffirm Georgia's sovereignty and independence and territorial integrity. Russia itself has endorsed these resolutions. The international community is clear that South Ossetia and Abkhazia are part of Georgia, and the United States fully recognizes this reality.

We will continue to stand behind Georgia's democracy; we will continue to insist that Georgia's sovereignty and independence and territorial integrity be respected.

In the mean time, French President Sarkozy, in his role as the President of the European Union, was working to provide true peacekeepers to the Georgian seperatist provinces as soon as possible.

AUGUST 18, 2008

By August 18 a large diplomatic effort was under way within NATO, with U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice leading the way, to forge a mutual understanding between all NATO nations regarding humanitarian relief, European peacekeeping duties, and to develop a strategy and response to the new agressiveness of the Russians, and in particular, to device some form of punishment for it's agression in Georgia.

The Russian Foriegn Minister sarcastically indicated that the, "mountain had given birth to a mouse."

US transport aircraft continued to arrive regularly in Tiblisi, offloading aid and supplies.

The Russians also announced that US, Canadian, and Polish warships had gained permission from Turkey to transit the Bosporus Straits into the Black Sea and escort US Naval Humanitarian vessels to Georgia. Russia clearly took such moves much more seriously than the diplomatic efforts and indicated that its ships and aircraft would keep an eye on these NATO warships. It was expected that these ships would arrive within a week to ten days in the area.

AUGUST 19, 2008

\ Early in the morning of August 19th, a small Russian column of seven armored personnel carriers with seventy troops re-entered the port city of Porti and briefly occupied the port facilities there...taking captive twenty Georgian soldiers who had been maintaining a presence at the facility, and also confiscating four US Army HUMMVEE vehicles that were awaiting shipment back to the United States after having been used for training exercises with the Goergian troops the month before.

During the day, Georgian television showed footage of a tense standoff at a military training base in northwestern Georgia, where Russian troops tried to enter but were turned away by Georgia police. There was no violence, but the report said the Russians threatened to return and destroy the base if they were not allowed in.

Later in the day, the first Russian armored units began pulling back from Gori, but it was a small contingent of only three tanks, three trucks and five armored personnel carriers, and Russia informed Georgia that its pull back may take come time yet. In addition, and exchange of fifteen Gerogian and five Russian prisoners, many of them wounded and one of which was a downed Russian pilot, was conducted near Kaspi, Georgia.

At an emergency meeting in Brussels, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her 25 NATO counterparts demanded that Russia immediately withdraw its troops from Georgia, a U.S. ally that wants to join NATO.

"It is time for the Russian president to keep his word to withdraw Russian forces," Rice told a news conference.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov lashed back, telling a hastily gathered news conference that the alliance was supporting an aggressive Georgia.

NATO "is trying to make a victim of the aggressor, to absolve of guilt a criminal regime, to save a collapsed regime; and is taking a course to rearm the current leaders of Georgia," Lavrov said.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told French President Nicolas Sarkozy by phone Tuesday that Russian troops will withdraw from most of Georgia by Friday, the Kremlin said — some to Russia, others to South Ossetia and a surrounding "security zone" set in 1999.

JEFFHEAD.COM