OSCE SAYS THERE IS AGREEMENT TO INFORMAL JCC MARCH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TBILISI 000436

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR DAS BRYZA AND EUR/CARC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/02/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV GG
SUBJECT: OSCE SAYS THERE IS AGREEMENT TO INFORMAL JCC MARCH
20-23 IN ISTANBUL


Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOHN F. TEFFT. REASONS: 1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (C) Summary: Ambassador Tefft called on OSCE Ambassador
Roy Reeve February 28 to discuss South Ossetia. On the Joint
Control Commission (JCC),Ambassador said that the U.S. is
pressing the Georgians to agree to the JCC. Reeve said that
there were some positive signals that a JCC meeting would
take place. (Note: In a March 2 telcon, Deputy Nikolaev
confirmed that the sides had just agreed to an informal
meeting of the JCC on March 20-23 in Istanbul. End note.)
On Sanakoyev, Ambassador said that the U.S. believes that the
longer we wait to meet him, the harder it will become. Reeve
supported the idea of Ambassadors meeting Sanakoyev but
stressed that he would have no formal contact. Reeve
welcomed the Georgian agreement to allow police cooperation
in South Ossetia and offered other ideas on what the
Georgians could do to move forward on conflict resolution.
On elections, Reeve said the OSCE group would meet soon to
start planning for the 2008 Presidential and Parliamentary
elections. End summary.

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JCC ON?
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2. (C) Ambassador Tefft called on OSCE Ambassador Roy Reeve
February 28 to discuss South Ossetia. Ambassador told Reeve
that the U.S. is pressing the Georgians to agree to a meeting
of the Joint Control Commission (JCC),even as they press for
the use of new formats. Reeve thanked him for the
intervention and said that there were some positive signals
that a JCC meeting would take place. (Note: In a March 2
telcon, Deputy Nikolaev confirmed that the sides agreed to an
informal JCC on March 20-23 in Istanbul, possibly followed by
a formal JCC. End note.) Reeve said that both sides were to
blame for the failure to agree on a date earlier and that the
Georgian and South Ossetian Co-Chairs had been in discussions
about a new date.


3. (C) Reeve argued for continued use of the JCC, which he
said is needed for technical reasons, such as getting a
checkpoint at Didi Gupta. He thought that the Georgians
could use agreement to work in the JCC to achieve their
objective of having more bilateral contacts with the South
Ossetians. He pointed to the fact that there are other
mechanisms that are not being used, such as the Authorized
Delegations (AD),which the Georgians could advocate to
re-start. When asked whether Russia would agree, Reeve
assessed that an invitation to a re-start meetings of ADs,
coupled with agreement to attend the JCC, would be something
that the Russians could not reasonably refuse.

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REEVE RULES OUT FORMAL CONTACT WITH SANAKOYEV
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4. (C) Turning to the de facto leader Sanakoyev, Ambassador
said that the U.S. believes that the international community
should not confer more legitimacy on one de facto leader over
another. He briefed on his approach to the British, French,
German and EU Ambassadors, noting the need to think about how
to manage the issue of meeting Sanakoyev, who is gaining
traction in South Ossetia. He offered the idea of signaling
to the MFA that they could hold a meeting where Sanakoyev is
present. While acknowledging OSCE concerns, Ambassador said
that the U.S. concern is that the longer we wait to meet with
him, the harder it will become.


5. (C) Reeve agreed that Sanakoyev is a factor but thought
that the Georgians need to back off from overt support and
let Sanakoyev stand on his own. Reeve said that he could not
meet with Sanakoyev on a political level (although he did not
explain why) but acknowledged that some of the OSCE's Donors'
Economic Rehabilitation Projects will take place in areas
controlled by Sanakoyev and he did not rule out a chance
meeting with someone from Sanakoyev's team at "the opening of
some school or clinic." He stressed, however, that he would
abstain from formal contact. He noted with interest that the
Tedeyev brothers, who are linked to the St. Petersberg Tambor
mafia and who had been instrumental in Kokoity's rise to the
de facto presidency, had switched sides and now worked for
Sanakoyev.

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GEORGIANS AGREE TO POLICE COOPERATION
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6. (C) Reeve turned to his highest priority in South Ossetia:
reconstruction of the law enforcement agencies, which he
believes is the key to the withdrawal of the Joint

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Peacekeeping Force (JPKF). If you can get the two forces
together with international monitors, he said, then the
question arises of why you need the JPKF. He welcomed MOIA
Merabishvili's recent agreement to allow police cooperation
between Georgian and South Ossetians, including allowing a
needs assessment of the South Ossetian militia. He said that
Merabishvili understood that there would need to be a police
force in South Ossetia.


7. (C) When asked what more the Georgians could do, Reeve
said that the Georgians could remove the military police from
the Zone of Conflict. He said that with the Georgian
battalion (almost at 500 people) and Georgian police, there
is no role for military police. He claimed that they are an
irritant to the situation. He also suggested that the
Georgian Government issue and publicize a clear set of rules
on what goods can be transported to the Zone of Conflict.
The lack of clear guidelines, he said simply, fuels
corruption. In a follow-up phone call with Poloff, OSCE
offered to come up with a list of items that could be raised
with the Georgian Government.

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ELECTIONS GROUP TO MEET SOON
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8. (C) Ambassador raised the issue of preparing for the 2008
Presidential and Parliamentary elections. Reeve said that
the OSCE elections group was going to call a meeting soon and
agreed to work on a list of agreed recommended steps the
group could use with the Government.
TEFFT