Georgia Monitoring Group To Include Irish Ex-Soldiers

A new Georgia conflict monitoring group is to include ex members of Irish forces.

According to reports earlier this week, Ireland will be contributing four people to a possible 300-member EU observer group being deployed into the troubled area of Georgia next week.

The Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin made the announcement after holding talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, in Dublin.

The EU observers will be in place to verify compliance with a six-point accord for Russian withdrawal from the region, reached last week between the Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, and Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France.

The observers are also expected to help stabilise and normalise the situation in the region, and establish ways to resolve the crisis politically.

The crisis arose following years of civil war between break-away states, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and the Russian Federation.

Although the two states have declared their independence from Georgia, they still remain under Georgian rule, and are described as "Russian occupied territories" by the Georgian government.

Last month, Russian troops entered Georgia to push back Georgian forces trying to regain control of the Moscow-backed breakaway state of South Ossetia.

Now, an EU-Russia peace plan is sending EU observers to Georgia on October 1 to monitor a ceasefire as Russian troops withdraw, with four retired Irish military personnel expected to be part of the observer group.

Mr Martin said today: "The EU Monitoring Mission, which will include four personnel, will deploy in the next few days as part of the EU’s commitment to conflict resolution in the region."

Mr Lavrov said Russia was very glad to see Irish representatives taking part in the operation.

"Irish peacekeepers have a reputation for impartial and neutral peacekeeping and I’m sure will give an objective evaluation of the situation," he said.

(DW)