Permanent Council agrees to expand OSCE border monitoring operation in Georgia

VIENNA, 14 December 2001 - The OSCE's Permanent Council agreed yesterday to an expansion of the two-year-old border monitoring operation run by the Organization's Mission to Georgia. The operation was originally established by the OSCE in December 1999, to survey Georgia's mountainous 81-kilometre frontier with the Chechen Republic of the Russian Federation.

According to the Council's new decision, the Mission's mandate will be amended to include observing and reporting on movement across the border between Georgia and the Ingush Republic, to the west of Chechnya. As with the existing operation, the OSCE monitors will be unarmed and will have no enforcement responsibilities, but will act with full respect for the sovereignty of the Georgian authorities over their own borders. The Government has given assurances that it will provide security for the monitors and ensure their freedom of movement.

Ambassador Liviu Bota, Chairman of the Permanent Council, said "This decision will contribute considerably to efforts to maintain stability across this part of the Caucasus."

The expansion takes the total number of personnel engaged in the border monitoring operation in Georgia up to 42 during the winter period and a maximum of 54 in the summer. Monitoring activities along both stretches of border will continue until 31 December 2002. The budget allocated for the expansion, targeted to begin on 1 January 2002, is 1.8 million euros.