11 April 2007, 23:10
South Ossetia accuses Georgia of blocking Transcaucasian Highway
Today, Transcaucasian Highway traffic was temporarily blocked in the Georgia-South Ossetia conflict zone, where Georgian power agencies are controlling the Highway section in the vicinity of the villages of the Tskhinval District of South Ossetia. Ms. Zema Kulumbegova, head of the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the Republic of South Ossetia (RSO), informed the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about it.
She noted that "in breach of earlier signed agreements on the settlement process of Georgian-Ossetian conflict, an additional Georgian MIA's special contingent was deployed in villages from Tamarasheni to Kekhvi, whose soldiers are searching, without any coordination with the Mixed Control Commission (MCC) and United Peacekeeping Forces (UPKF) (i.e., illegally), citizens of Ossetian origin who drive the Highway."
"Under threat of weapon, the Georgian policemen confiscate foodstuffs, cash money and personal belongings of passers-by, whichever they like," the press service had state earlier.
The MIA of the RSO also noted that for safety reasons of peaceful residents of the Republic they had to stop traffic in the dangerous section of the Transcaucasian Highway.
Mamuka Kurashvili, Commander the Georgian peacemaking battalion, told the RIA "Novosti" that at about 20:30 local time the traffic of motor vehicles and pedestrians in the Highway section was resumed.
Author: Georgiy Vaneyev, CK correspondent
