GEORGIA: Ethnic Georgians remain optimistic about future of South Ossetia despite vote for independence

Georgia's breakaway region, South Ossetia voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence in a referendum tempered by signs that Tbilisi wanted to ease tensions with the separatists and their Russian backers. In a parallel presidential election in South Ossetia on Sunday (November 12), Eduard Kokoity was re-elected with 96 percent of the vote. Georgian newspapers on Monday (November 13) devoted front page reports to the ballot in South Ossetia, but gave equal coverage to an "alternative" vote that saw ethnic Georgians from the breakaway region vote for integration with Georgia and their own choice of president. "Tskhinvali (capital of South Ossetia) has two presidents, what next?" a front page headline in one of the morning papers in Tbilisi read. Election officials in South Ossetia said on Monday that 99 percent of the roughly 50,000 voters said "Yes" to separation from Tbilisi, a defiant reaffirmation of a split that has existed since a war in the early 1990s. In Tbilisi on Monday, Georgian's had mixed views on the South Ossetia ballot and the future of the rebel region. "I am very glad that these elections took place, although we don't recognise them. It still shows us the real situation that exists there. I would like to say that I was born in the town of Gory and I have many friends who are Ossetian. I was brought up with Ossetian friends and therefore I know they also have very positive views. On the one hand it is good because it might be a step towards a solution of the problem and to mutual understanding, so I feel positive about it," said Marika Jabuari, a Tbilisi resident. South Ossetia has no international recognition and Georgia and the West have called the referendum illegal. Russia says it should be respected. "Power should be restored there (in South Ossetia) again, for both Georgians and Ossetians, maybe it should be a federal state," said Tbilisi resident Gia Gabeliani. South Ossetia is an ex-Soviet 'frozen conflict' that has become increasingly combustible since President Mikhail Saakashvili came to power in 2004 vowing to restore control. Separatists and Georgian forces are often killed in skirmishes. Most South Ossetians, ethnically different from Georgians, hold Russian passports and use the Russian rouble. But the region, 100 km (60 miles) from Georgia's capital Tbilisi, has many villages populated by ethnic Georgians, some of whom fled separatist-controlled areas during the war. They reject the separatist vote and ran their own polls to elect a rival regional leader on Sunday. "What are they voting for? Who do they vote for? What do they want? I don't understand anything of it. From the TV I understand that people were very glad that they, Georgians and Ossetians, were given the opportunity to vote for someone at the same time. They hope for peace. If we look at it from that aspect, then I also look at it with optimism," said another Tbilisi resident, Anna Purceladze. Relations between Tbilisi and Moscow collapsed last month after Georgia deported four Russian soldiers it accused of spying. Moscow hit back by severing transport links with its ex-Soviet neighbour. But Georgia's conflicts with South Ossetia and Abkhazia lie at the root of the row with Moscow. Russia has strong ties to the separatists and has pledged to defend them from Georgian aggression, while Tbilisi accuses the Kremlin of effectively annexing the two regions.

ITN Source | November 13, 2006

Tags:. .integration. .conflicts. .ties. .roughly. .collapsed