Maintaining the ceasefire
Another day of frantic phonediplomacy. Spent most of the day on the phone talking to colleagues in Europe, Russia and the US. Met Belgian Foreign Minister Karel de Gucht, who chairs the UN Security Council this month. Talked to the Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-Moon, as well.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which Finland happens to chair this year, has a key role in maintaining the ceasefire in Georgia. We are the only ones with staff, infrastructure and a mandate in the region.
That is why we have called for an additional 100 military observers to be let in to monitor the ceasefire. The negotiations in Vienna were concluded just before midnight. The Georgians and the Russians will be talking to their respective capitals overnight. Thumbs up.
I see things developing in three stages:
1. Decision on OSCE monitors to observe the ceasefire.
2. UN Security Council Decision.
3. International peacekeeping forces.
One thing is for sure. We are in this for the long haul. There are no quick fixes around.
The next 48 hours are crucial for the ceasefire. We need those monitors in there. The sooner the better.
I will participate in the Nato Foreign Minister meeting tomorrow in my capacity as Chairman in Offife of the OSCE. I will also meet the Foreign Minister of Georgia and Condoleezza Rice. In addition I have an OSCE Troika meeting with the Spanish and Greek Foreign ministers and an EU coordination meeting.
If everything goes well I will head to Tblisi by the end of the week to check out that the monitoring mission gets going according to plans.
5 comments
Tuskin koskaan olen ollut yhtä ylpeä suomalaispoliitikon työskentelystä. Loistavaa ulkoministeri! Ja jaksamista.
Hi Alex!
I'll keep the English going on in here.
I think that UN should have peacekeeping operation in South Ossetia. Why? Because I think they are the only neutral side that can come in and make sure there will be peace. And since the force is multinational it shows people in there that the rest of the world wants peace in there. Anyway keep up the good work in OSCE.
the US wants Georgia as a member of Nato while Russia does not.
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Georgia wants to become member of NATO like every civilized Western democratic nation which wants to protect itself.
I will participate in the Nato Foreign Minister meeting tomorrow in my capacity as Chairman in Offife of the OSCE.
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I do not understand that the foreign minister of a country as hostile to NATO like Finland is invited to such meetings. Well, fortunately Tuomioja is not foreign minister anymore but one of the few realistic and positive Finns like Stubb.
For the US and Russia the matters of utmost importance in the area of the current crisis seem to be to show the power against each other and the power to control the future of the area. Therefore both Russians and Americans are describing each others Administrations with the words belonging to the Cold War era, and therefore, the US wants Georgia as a member of Nato while Russia does not.
The EU and the OSCE have so far been the sole successful actors in trying to stop the war. In order to succeed in their mission of resolving the acute phase of the conflict and getting the peace talks started as soon as possible, the EU and the OSCE should have as their main target the respect of human rights and the respect of the free will of people to decide about their future whether concerning Abkhazians, Southossetians or the people of Georgia proper.
Naturally, the EU and the OSCE are unable to resolve the conflict by themselves only, and thus, all the parties of the conflict should understand the dangers of the current situation and cut the rhetorics and get to the negotiating table.
OSCE crisis monitoring people are in great need in order to facilitate the development of resolving the crisis in peaceful means resulting in a constructive and lasting peace not tomorrow and maybe not during this year but hopefully latest 2009. For the future peace negotiations it would be practical that the OSCE monitoring would be strenghtened simultaneously both in Abkhasia, South Ossetia and Georgia proper. However, as long as the situation is not controlled by peacekeepers, it is necessary that the de facto controlling military power i.e. Russian troops stay in Abkhazia and South Ossetia in order to avoid a possible proxy war which might last for a very long time and which might lead to a direct conflict between US and/or Nato and Russia.
The world economy will survive the current crisis but Mankind may not survive a direct conflict between the US and Russia. Thus, I am unable to emphasize enough the need of flexibility and the the respect of human rights in order to create a practically working and effective platform to resolve this crisis permanently and peacefully.