26/09/2008 News
Strasbourg, 26.09.2008 – Both Georgia and Russia could have done more to prevent the war between them, according to the head of a PACE delegation visiting the two countries ahead of an urgent debate on the consequences of the war next week in Strasbourg.
Speaking at a press conference in Tbilisi at the end of the second part of the visit (24-25 September), Luc van den Brande (Belgium, EPP/CD) said that it was important to understand events leading up to the outbreak of war: “This conflict didn’t start on 7 August,” he pointed out.
He therefore repeated his call for an international investigation into the war, and said the parliaments of both countries had indicated their willingness to participate.
As well as meetings with the authorities in Tbilisi, the nine-member, cross-party delegation visited villages in South Ossetia and the so-called buffer-zone, and spoke to residents who had experienced bombing during the war as well as looting in its aftermath. It also met, at their request, with the de facto authorities in Tskhinvali, including Eduard Kokoity.
Mr van den Brande added that a war between two member states was a matter of grave concern, and said that all parties bore their share of responsibility for the widespread human suffering it had caused. He called for a renewed focus on the humanitarian situation, the return of IDPs as soon as possible and appealed for maximum international assistance.
The Assembly’s possible urgent debate is due to begin on the morning of Tuesday 30 September and continues, culminating in a vote, on the morning of Thursday 2 October.