SOUTH OSSETIA WATER STANDOFF

C O N F I D E N T I A L TBILISI 001278

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DEPT FOR EUR DAS BRYZA AND EUR/CARC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/31/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL OSCE GG
SUBJECT: SOUTH OSSETIA WATER STANDOFF


Classified By: Ambassador John F. Tefft for reasons 1.4(b)&(d).


1. (C) As of May 31, the South Ossetian "capital" of
Tskhinvali has been without water for a week, producing a

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tense political standoff. As OSCE officials have described
it to us, the problem started when residents of the Georgian
enclave north of Tskhinvali drilled holes in the water
pipeline to use for irrigation. This has happened in
previous years as well -- with South Ossetians long
complaining about Georgian theft of water intended for
drinking -- but it was especially acute this year because a
second irrigation pipe ceased to work in 2006, leaving the
main pipe to Tskhinvali as the Georgian farmers' only source
for water. The incident escalated when Georgian officials on
the de facto border refused to allow Ossetian repair crews to
enter the Georgian enclave to repair the pipe, telling OSCE
monitors that they would not permit the crews in without an
order from Georgian-backed administrative chief Dmitry
Sanakoyev.


2. (C) OSCE has facilitated discussions between Georgian
State Minister for Conflict Resolution Merab Antadze and his
South Ossetian counterpart Boris Chochiev, but thus far
without success. De facto president Eduard Kokoity has
threatened publicly to cut off the water supply even farther
north, in separatist-controlled territory, which would deny
water to the Georgian enclave as well as to the large
Georgian city of Gori south of South Ossetia. OSCE reports
that the South Ossetians carried through on this threat May
31, but after three and a half hours of no water OSCE
convinced them to reopen the pipe, at least temporarily. We
have stressed to the Georgians the need to find a resolution
to the impasse.

TEFFT