Tskhinval/Agency Caucasus – The administration of South Ossetia does not want Georgians to live any more in Georgian villages that Georgia used as stepping-stones while it waged its recent war.Georgian villages in South Ossetia were completely evacuated, said Eduard Kokoyti, President of South Ossetia, and added that Georgians would not be let into those villages any longer.
Before the war began, all the civilians were displaced so that Georgian troops could be deployed in the region, said Kokoyti: "We allowed the civilians to evacuate through a corridor separately from Georgian troops. I reiterate that nobody was left in the villages when we got there. They left in time, since the Georgian side had been seriously prepared for the war."
The administration of South Ossetia would like to place in the Georgian villages as many as 18 000 Ossetians who took refuge in North Ossetia after they left Georgia in 1991, said Kokoyti, because this would reduce the likelihood of Ossetians being ‘stabbed in the back’ over again in the future. "We do not want to let anyone in any more. Over 18 000 Ossetian refugees who have come from Georgia are now placed in North Ossetia. We need to move them safely to South Ossetia."
Life would soon return to normal in the Georgian villages, said Anatoli Barankevich, who chairs the Security Council of South Ossetia.
KU/ÖZ/FT
