Civil society in Abkhazia is appalled at the tragic events in South
Ossetia that are developing before the very eyes of the international
community as the entire population of South Ossetia have actually become
a target for a massive attack from the Georgian army. Georgia has
violated all previous agreements, as well as principles of international
and humanitarian law.

Despite declarations about adherence to exclusively peaceful ways of
conflict resolution, the Georgian leadership has now taken a treacherous
decision to start military operations against the people of South
Ossetia. Hundreds of civilians are dead and wounded, the hospital,
schools accommodation blocks in Tskhinval have been destroyed. Barbaric
shelling of the civilian population testifies to a gross transgression
by Georgia of human rights and has caused a desperate humanitarian
disaster across the whole of South Ossetia.

One can hardly call Georgia’s recent actions spontaneous. They are a
deliberate fulfilment of Tbilisi’s plans to undermine the existing
negotiation and peacekeeping formats. In his recent interviews the State
Minister of Georgia Temur Jacobashvili has spoken openly about Georgia’s
intention to liquidate these formats.

By repeatedly declaring its commitment to a peaceful resolution Georgia
is attempting to mislead the international community about its true
intentions. It must be obvious that Tbilisi has embarked on the path of
a resolution of conflicts by force of arms. In light of this the so
called ‘peace initiatives” by Saakshvili are perceived in South Ossetia
and Abkhazia as nothing other than a screen to mask Georgia’ s goals,
which are far from peaceful.

We cannot but be concerned by the fact that at a time when so much
attention from the international community is focused on our region, and
just after the visits to Tbilisi of highly placed officials from world
powers, Georgia has permitted itself yet again to resort to military
force to attain its goals. This demonstrates that too often Tbilisi
succeeds in avoiding having to take responsibility for its criminal
actions, which destabilize the situation in the Caucasus and place under
threat the lives of thousands of people.

In the current situation we expect from the international community,
from all countries and organizations involved in the resolution process
an unambiguous assessment of the actions of Georgia. We consider that
the international community is well placed and obliged to use all levers
at its disposal to put a stop to Georgian aggression, if it so wishes.

– Center for Humanitarian Programs

– The Sukhum Youth House

– The Sukhum media Club

– Association “Inva-Sodeistviye”

– Women’s Association of Abkhazia

– The Gagra Center for the support of civic initiatives

– The Youth Initiative of Tquarchal

– The Ochamchira Youth House

– The Association of Business Women

– The Civic Initiative Foundation

– The Pitsunda Youth Association