TSKHINVAL. March 28 (Interfax) - In the 27th round of the Geneva talks, the South Ossetian delegation called on the negotiation participants to intensify the work aimed at reaching the main goal of the meeting, the development of legally binding documents on the non-use of force against South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
"Experts continued working on the text of the joint statement by the discussion participants on the adherence to the principle of non-use of force. Such statements would be an important and responsible step in the direction of the main goal of the discussions. However, the destructive stance taken by the Georgian delegation again prevented us from completing the work on the statement," Murat Dzhioyev, South Ossetian presidential envoy on post-conflict settlement, told Interfax by phone from Geneva on Thursday.
Discussing issues relating to security and stability in the area of the South Ossetian-Georgian state border, the discussion participants pointed out the effectiveness and positive role of the mechanism for preventing and reacting to incidents, which is operating under the aegis of the Geneva debate and which holds monthly meetings in the area of the state border, Dzhioyev said.
Dzhioyev said the South Ossetian officials had reiterated that all work aimed at demarcating the South Ossetian-Georgian state border is conducted in full compliance with the sovereign rights of the republic and promotes stability in the areas adjacent to the border.
"The provided materials deny the allegations of violations of the rights of residents of the village located along the border and demonstrate the South Ossetian authorities' humane approach to their needs. They pointed out the destabilizing and provocative effect of the actions taken by the Georgian authorities to fuel information tensions. The South Ossetian officials recalled that they had offered Georgia to work together on border delimitation and offered to the co-chairmen of the Geneva debate to act as mediators," the source said.
The meeting addressed issues relating to the search for missing persons and mutual release of prisoners, he said.
"The participants were satisfied with the information provided by the co-chairmen that the Georgian Prosecutor General's Office had promised to speed up the investigation into the fate of the three South Ossetian citizens who were kidnapped by Georgian law enforcement in October 2008 and on the opening of another missing person case," he said.
The next round of the Geneva talks is scheduled to be held on June 17-18, 2014.