Georgia and South Ossetia: Conflict in the Caucasus
by Jennifer Altavilla
On August 8, 2008, when most of the world was celebrating the opening of the 29th summer Olympiad, a sporting competition which is supposed to engender two weeks of uninterrupted world harmony and tranquility, armies were colliding on the Russian-Georgian border. While Georgian and Russian athletes were battling for national pride and Olympic glory, forces back home were fighting a different, far less honorable, war of entitlement, greed, and pursuit of power.
This untimely conflict is rooted in an eighteen-year-old grudge. In 1990, the province of South Ossetia declared its independence from the former Soviet republic of Georgia. However, neither Georgia, nor the international community, recognized it as an autonomous state. Because many ethnic Georgians reside in South Ossetia, Georgia desired to annex the province and incorporate it into the newly-formed state. Violence-of both the military and civilian sort-ensued between Georgia and the fiercely independent South Ossetia. Both sides unabashedly violated international humanitarian law, burning schools and houses, and pillaging villages. Although it seemed the violence might continue indefinitely, in order to avoid a conflict with Russia, which allied with South Ossetia, Georgia was forced to accept a ceasefire agreement in 1992. Russia sent a peacekeeping force into South Ossetia in order to negotiate the peace agreement between Georgia, South Ossetia, Russia, and North Ossetia-where many South Ossetians fled during the conflict.
The most recent conflict is a direct response to that "peace" agreement made sixteen years ago, which, instead of definitively ending the disagreement, merely allowed the mutual hatred and resentment between Georgia and South Ossetia to simmer. Now, Georgia believes the Russian peacekeeping force-supposedly neutral-is actually supporting the South Ossetian nationalists. Georgia claims that the Russian peacekeeping force is biased against the Georgian people, although as the Human Rights Watch website states, any peacekeepers "must treat all persons humanely, in a nondiscriminatory manner," and should ensure "respect for fundamental guarantees." Perhaps there is a grain of truth to the Georgian accusation, but the manner in which both sides have conducted themselves is disgraceful, and what is worse, violates international humanitarian law.
As international humanitarian law states, any non-military citizens should be protected from murder and cruelty. Military forces cannot attack homes, places of worship, schools, or cultural monuments unless they are being used for military purposes, or if their capture results in "military advantage." However, both the Georgian and the combined Russian and South Ossetian militaries have attacked civilians. The Human Rights Watch website claims that Russian soldiers attacked convoys of fleeing Georgian citizens and have indiscriminately looted villages and towns. It also reports that the South Ossetian military has attacked ethnic Georgians in the Gori district of Georgia, a region that Russia controls and is supposed to protect. According to C.J. Chivers of the New York Times, the Russian government has barred foreign journalists from the conflict region unless they are accompanied by Russian government officials and given an "official" tour. Lastly, although Russian troops were supposed to be withdrawing by August 17th, they are still firmly positioned along the highway to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, and have started building checkpoints in the Georgian city of Gori.
Although it appears Georgia is the innocent victim of the conflict, it is quite possible that it too has committed human rights violations. The new stage of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict began on August 6th when both sides claimed the other fired upon it without warning. It could have been Georgia or South Ossetia; the truth may never be uncovered. In any case, both sides began to pillage and burn each other's villages, and harass each other's citizens. Although it appears the combined Russian and South Ossetian forces might be conducting ethnic cleansing (as hinted by the fact that the Russian government won't grant access to foreign reporters), it is quite possible that Georgia is conducting some of its own. Finally, although both houses of the Russian Parliament voted to ask President Dmitri Medvedev to grant South Ossetia independence, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili vowed to rebuild his army and continue to fight to reclaim the provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. His stubbornness indicates that he plans to take whatever measures-even those that violate humanitarian law-to reclaim what he feels is rightfully his.
It appears there is no right or wrong side to the Georgian-South Ossetian-Russian conflict. All sides have sincere motivations, but all sides have committed heinous crimes in order to realize those aspirations. Although the United States supports Georgia, and vows to protect the "rights of small nations," it is as yet unclear whether that support is truly merited. There really can be no "good" side in a conflict where both sides commit gross crimes against humanity.
