Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07TBILISI2269
2007-09-07 12:24:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Tbilisi
Cable title:  

STAFFDEL ANAND'S AUGUST 29-SEPTEMBER 1 VISIT TO GEORGIA

Tags:  PREL PGOV PHUM GG 
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DE RUEHSI #2269/01 2501224
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 071224Z SEP 07 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY TBILISI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7537
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TBILISI 002269 

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E.O 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM GG
SUBJECT: STAFFDEL ANAND'S AUGUST 29-SEPTEMBER 1 VISIT TO GEORGIA


Summary
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TBILISI 002269

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SENSITIVE
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E.O 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM GG
SUBJECT: STAFFDEL ANAND'S AUGUST 29-SEPTEMBER 1 VISIT TO GEORGIA


Summary
--------------

1. (SBU) Georgian officials gave a four-member staff delegation from
the House Committee on Foreign Affairs an overview of Georgia's
ongoing reforms August 30, in areas including rule of law,
elections, defense, prisons, and the economy. The officials
stressed the importance of NATO integration as a tool to push
through and consolidate reforms. They expressed great concern about
Russian pressure, including missile strikes and threats to recognize
Georgia's separatist regions, and argued that such Russian tactics
should not be rewarded with a delay in Georgia receiving Membership
Action Plan (MAP) status in NATO. On August 31, the delegation
traveled to Tskhinvali, where a South Ossetian de facto official
rejected any possibility of dealing with the new,
Georgian-sanctioned temporary administrative unit headed by former
de facto official Dmitry Sanakoyev. Moving on to Kurta, the
delegation met with Sanakoyev himself, who laid out his vision of a
South Ossetia with broad autonomy inside Georgia. From the drive
through Sanakoyev-controlled territory, it was clear that the
Georgians are in the midst of a huge building push intended to make
the area attractive to residents of separatist-controlled areas.
End Summary.

The Rush to Reform
--------------

2. (SBU) Deputy State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic
Integration Elene Khoshtaria gave the delegation, which consisted of
Professional Staff Members Manpreet Singh Anand, Amanda Sloat, Gene
Gurevich, and Melissa Adamson, a thorough review of Georgia's reform
progress to date, citing in particular the fight against corruption,
local government reforms as enshrined with the 2006 local elections,
and defense reform. She said that in 2006 the Georgian government
had made reform of the judiciary and penitentiaries a top priority.
She tied Georgia's reform steps closely to the NATO integration
process, and said Georgia had met all objective criteria to achieve
MAP status by the NATO Summit in Bucharest. Any further delay, she
suggested, would be a signal that Russia's confrontational tactics
had succeeded. At a lunch hosted by the Ambassador, leading MPs
Mikheil Machavariani, Giga Bokeria, and Nino Nakashidze echoed these
themes, noting that Georgia has made great strides in democratic

development. The MPs said that Parliament will soon consider a law
creating jury trials. Asked about several ongoing court cases that
had raised human rights questions, the MPs said the trials had met
international standards, but they acknowledged that the appearance
of a lack of transparency had hurt Georgia internationally. In a
separate meeting, leading think tankers offered a similar
assessment, arguing that the government had not gotten full
information about controversial criminal and property rights cases
out to the international community.


3. (SBU) Deputy Minister of Defense Batu Kutelia told the delegation
about his Ministry's internal reforms and the planned transition to
a non-conscript army by 2009, noting that NATO standards were
driving this process. He expressed concern that Russia would follow
through on threats to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and
South Ossetia if Kosovo declared its independence. Deputy State
Minister for Conflict Resolution Dimitri Manjavidze reviewed the
South Ossetia conflict, arguing that Sanakoyev needed to continue
economic development projects and his work with local government
officials. Manjavidze stressed that a legitimate solution to the
conflict would require free and fair elections to determine South
Ossetia's status, and he reiterated Georgia's call for international
monitors at the Roki tunnel.

South Ossetia's Two Regimes
--------------

4. (SBU) In a meeting in Tskhinvali August 31, South Ossetia's
deputy Joint Control Commission (JCC) co-chair Leonid Tibilov told
the delegation that the people of South Ossetia would never accept
or work with Sanakoyev's administration. Tibilov said that while
the South Ossetian people were grateful to Russia as their "savior"
in the war with Georgia in the early 1990s, the South Ossetians'
policy was to seek recognition as an independent state. He blamed
Georgia for the lack of dialogue in the JCC, and said any settlement
would have to be part of a "unified, joint program" including a
declaration on the non-use of force or the threat of force.
Reviewing the donors' economic rehabilitation program and other
international aid initiatives, he claimed that the South Ossetians
put no limits on the internationals' work. Asked about the August 6
missile incident, Tibilov expressed certainty that it was a "farce"
staged by Georgian special forces.


5. (SBU) Leaving Tskhinvali, the delegation drove south into
Georgian-controlled territory, and turned east onto the Georgian
by-pass road, which allows the Georgians to reach their villages
north of Tskhinvali, including Tamarasheni, Kurta, and Kekhvi,
without having to travel through Tskhinvali. While unpaved and
steep, the road was passable, and construction crews were at work
improving it. Coming over the mountain -- just past Georgian and
Russian peacekeeping posts on opposite sides at the summit -- the
road offered a commanding view of both Tskhinvali and the
Georgian-controlled Didi Liakhvi Valley. At the bottom of the

TBILISI 00002269 002 OF 002


mountain was a large housing compound under construction for
officials of the Sanakoyev administration and the population.
Traveling on to Tamarasheni, the delegation saw more evidence of a
building boom in the area: a newly completed cinema and amusement
park, and a hotel and trade center under construction.


6. (SBU) The meeting took place at Sanakoyev's headquarters, a
recently refurbished building (complete with a shiny podium for
press conferences and back rooms equipped with cots and showers for
officials) on the compound of a hospital in Kurta. Sanakoyev's
large office was decorated with Georgian, South Ossetian, and EU
flags, and a sign on the door identified him as "President of the
Republic of South Ossetia." After dismissing the large number of
Georgian journalists who had filmed the delegation's arrival,
Sanakoyev, accompanied by his Deputy Minister for Integration Zurab
Antadze, laid out his immediate goals: establishing an autonomous
South Ossetia in the constitutional framework of Georgia, giving it
"legal form" (preferably as part of a federal structure),and
commencing conflict settlement. He said it was important to
guarantee to Ossetians the right to develop their culture and to
speak their native language, which he said should have official
status in Georgia. At the same time, he stressed that South
Ossetia must continue to be a multiethnic region. He explained his
own transformation, from a de facto official who had fought against
the Georgians into an advocate of a future within Georgia, by noting
his growing concern over militarization and Russian manipulation of
the region after de facto president Kokoity came to power in 2001.
His vision of the future, he stressed, was transforming South
Ossetia into a peaceful, developing part of the modern democratic
world.


7. (U) Staffdel Anand cleared this message.

TEFFT