10 June 2004 17:03
EU office in Georgia concerned at disrupted rail link with South Ossetia
Tbilisi, 10 June: The EU office in Georgia has expressed its "concern at the fact that the South Ossetian side
is obstructing the completion of repair works on the railway stretch from the [Georgian] village of Nikozi [on the
border of South Ossetia] to Tskhinvali, where only several hundreds of metres of rails are to be restored".
The distance between Nikozi and Tskhinvali is only 6 km. The rails were damaged during the armed conflict in
1991-92.
A statement released by the office in Tbilisi today also expresses hope that "work on the railway will soon be
restored and will facilitate the free movement of people and consignments, as well as a peaceful settlement of the
conflict".
The Georgian side began to restore the railways on 3 June but on 5 June "on the initiative of the South Ossetian
authorities", the work was suspended.
Tbilisi controls about 40 per cent of the territory of South Ossetia whereas Tskhinvali controls the rest of it.
[ITAR-TASS news agency] |
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