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Hammarberg Saw Humanitarian Catastrophe, Not Genocide
Council of Europe's Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg acknowledged yesterday that the war in South Ossetia had led to the humanitarian catastrophe. But the commissioner saw no evidences of genocide there all persistence of the RF Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov notwithstanding.
Speaker of upper house of the RF parliament Sergei Mironov and Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg canvassed yesterday aftereffects of combat actions in South Ossetia. Mr Hammarberg had just retuned from Tbilisi, Gori, Tskhinvali and Vladikavkaz.
The war led to the humanitarian catastrophe, the European commissioner said, recommending to both parties in conflict to focus on needs of victims quite a number of whom have been left without a roof over the head and in desperate condition.
A helping arm should be extended both to Georgian and Ossetian refugees, the commissioner went on, so that the people could return to their homes and normal live. But their return should be voluntary. It is necessary to guarantee safety, help people rebuild their houses and a comprehensive plan is to be elaborated to the effect.
At the same time, the commissioner refused to acknowledge genocide of the Ossetian nation. It was the humanitarian catastrophe and a special report will be released late this week, he promised.
Mr Hammarberg is “the first representative of the European community, who saw everything with his own eyes” and the first calling it the humanitarian catastrophe, Mironov said after the meeting. “However hard I tried to persuade him to acknowledge the genocide, he didn’t agree, saying that a difficult political discussion in Europe lies ahead and he will report everything what he saw.”
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 29, 2008
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