By Ambassador Stewart Eldon

 

 

The North Atlantic Council (NAC) visited Georgia on 15-16 September.  The visit had been long planned as part of the high-level dialogue with Georgia commissioned at the Bucharest Summit.  But August's military action by Russia gave it added significance.

 

Courtesy of the Polish Air Force, the NAC arrived in Tbilisi in the early afternoon of 15 September.  There followed a meeting with President Saakashvili , during which he set out his government's response to the crisis and desire for eventual membership of NATO.  The President emphasised the burden Internally Displaced Persons (IDP's) were putting on Georgia, and the emotional distress of those unable to return to their homes.  He gave a foretaste of the judicial and other reforms announced in his speech to Parliament the next day.  Georgia would need significant economic assistance, and he was grateful for the help offered by the US, EU and various individual governments.  He hoped the Alliance would offer Georgia a Membership Action Plan in December, arguing that the events of August illustrated the dangers of delay.  Led by the Secretary General, Ambassadors emphasised their support for the six-point plan negotiated by President Sarkozy.

 

Afterwards, the Secretary General and the Georgian Prime Minister signed the Framework Document of the NATO-Georgia Commission.  NATO Foreign Ministers decided in August to establish the Commission, which will have four main goals.  These are to deepen political dialogue and co-operation; to supervise the process set in hand with Georgia at Bucharest, to co-ordinate Alliance efforts to assist Georgia to recover from the recent conflict; and to underpin Georgia's efforts at reform.

 

At the first meeting of the Commission immediately following the signature ceremony,  the Prime Minister explained his approach to Georgia's economic problems, which he would take forward during a visit to London later in the week.  I and others emphasised the continuing importance of economic, political and defence-related reform and that Georgia's NATO aspirations should be seen in a wider context than the recent conflict.  The NATO-Georgia Commission would have an important role to play in both areas.

 

The second day began with a meeting at the Georgian Parliament, chaired by the Speaker and at which a range of Opposition politicians and Committee Chairmen were present.  All were united both in their goal of NATO membership and in resisting the detachment of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia.  The Opposition made it clear that they had serious difficulties with the government in a number of areas, but would deal with them in a democratic and Parliamentary context.  Government representatives told us further reforms were on the way covering electoral, budgetary and judicial matters.

 

A meeting with representatives of the EU, OSCE and UN gave the NAC a first hand impression of the difficulties involved in monitoring activity in the disputed parts of Georgia.  They were able to confirm that Russian troops had withdrawn their checkpoints in Poti and Senaki, as agreed when President Sarkozy visited Moscow on 8 September.  The EU and OSCE representatives were able to give an update on preparations for deploying and reinforcing their respective Observer Missions.

 

The meetings in Tbilisi concluded with a number of outreach activities including the Georgian Air Information Centre; the Opposition; the Office of the Georgian Ombudsman; and a group of NGO's.  I chose the last option and found our discussion partners well-informed and stimulating.  Though focussed on the recent conflict and its possible implications for NATO membership, they offered a number of useful insights on the Georgian media and judicial and other reform.  We underlined the vital role of the organisations they represented in stimulating reform in a democratic society.

 

Then off to Gori.  We first visited the Headquarters of the Georgian 1st Infantry Brigade, part of which had been systematically looted and demolished by the Russians during their occupation of the city.  It's hard to believe that some of the buildings that were trashed (accommodation, mess hall etc.) could ever have represented a significant military threat.

 

Our final stop was a tented camp in Gori for over 2000 IDP's operated jointly by UNHCR, UNICEF and WFP, in co-operation with the Georgian authorities and with the assistance of the Italian Red Cross.  We were briefed by those running the camp - an impressive operation that had been in place for only a little over two weeks.  We were able to meet some of the IDP's and to hear their stories, which in some cases were very moving.  According to the local Governor, who briefed us on the difficult situation to the North of Gori, roughly 16,000 IDP's throughout Georgia are unlikely to be able to return home in the foreseeable future.

 

All in all, an interesting and significant visit that gave us all considerable pause for thought.  The conclusions will take some time to absorb.  But they are likely to impact considerably on NATO's work during the coming months.