Chairman-in-Office urges restart of negotiations in Moldova

CHISINAU, 27 March 2002 - The OSCE Chairman-in-Office (CiO), Portuguese Foreign Minister Jaime Gama, has urged all sides involved in the Transdniestrian conflict to resume talks as soon as possible.

"Negotiations are the only way to resolve the conflict. They should restart without delay on experts level even if it might not be possible, for the time being, to continue talks on high political level", CiO Gama said at the end of a two-day visit to Moldova yesterday.

During talks in the country's capital Chisinau and the Transdniestrian capital Tiraspol, both the Moldovan and Transdniestrian sides agreed that it was particularly urgent to come to an agreement on joint custom posts located at the border with Ukraine, possibly with the participation of third parties.

In a meeting with the Moldovan President, Vladimir Voronin, Foreign Minister Gama was briefed on the recent tensions in the country, which had aggravated since 9 January, when the deputies of the Christian Democratic Popular Party (CDPP) had started to organize daily demonstrations in Chisinau. The CiO expressed his assurance that Moldova remained committed to OSCE values. "Therefore, internal problems have to be solved only by democratic means and adhering to the rule of law. In this, the OSCE and its Institutions will support Moldova", he said.

Moldovan authorities also expressed their worry about the disappearance of Vlad Cubreacov, a Parliamentarian of the CDPP, on 21 March. Mr. Gama said he shared this concern and welcomed President Voronin's order to law enforcement bodies to clarify the case as soon as possible.

In Tiraspol, the CiO was informed by General Boris Sergeev, Commander of the Operative Group of Russian Forces (OGRF), about the current state of the withdrawal of Russian arms and ammunition. Mr. Gama expressed his satisfaction regarding Russia's timely fulfilment of its CFE treaty obligations, but also raised concern about the approaching second deadline stipulated at the OSCE Istanbul Summit. This required Russia to withdraw or dispose of all arms and ammunitions and soldiers from Transdniestria by the end of 2002. According to General Sergeev, the Transdniestrian side hindered the evacuation and disposal, demanding Russia to compensate for the value of disposed or evacuated military items. The CiO was told that the parties were in negotiations for the departure of next ammunition train by the end of March.

During his visit, Mr. Gama also met leaders of the Gagauzian Autonomy, extra-parliamentary party leaders, as well as Moldovan and Transdniestrian non-governmental organizations.