TBILISI. Dec 26 (Interfax-AVN) - South Ossetian officials will propose to raise the level of representatives at Georgian- Ossetian talks up to prime ministers during a session of the Mixed Control Commission on the Georgian-Ossetian settlement that is to take place in January 2003, the self proclaimed republic's president Eduard Koikoty said on Thursday.
"The commission is not working efficiently, for its decisions remain unimplemented due to the low level of representatives in the commission," Koikoty told Interfax- Military News Agency.
"Otherwise, it will be difficult to talk about the restoration of trust between the two parties, and prerequisites for resuming the conflict may emerge as a result," the president stressed.
The commission that includes presidential envoys of Georgia, South Ossetia and Russia's internal republic North Ossetia and the envoy of the Russian Foreign Ministry will discuss the current criminal situation in the Georgian-Ossetian conflict zone at its January session. Proposals on improving the situation will be made by Major General Svyatoslav Nabzdorov, commander of the Mixed Peacekeeping Forces in the conflict zone.
The forces comprising Russian, Georgian and Ossetian battalions were deployed to the zone in 1992. They number some 1,000 servicemen.