S Ossetia releases OSCE observers

21/04/2009 12:14:34

Two OSCE observers detained on Tuesday by separatist forces in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia have been freed, an OSCE spokeswoman says. Martha Freeman told the BBC that the monitors - one Hungarian and the other Turkish - were returning to their base.

Earlier, South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity said the OSCE personnel were being held for "illegally crossing the Georgian-South Ossetian border".

The monitors are overseeing a ceasefire agreement between Georgia and Russia.

Georgia and Russia fought a brief but intense war last August, during which Georgia's attempts to regain control of South Ossetia and its other breakaway region of Abkhazia were repelled by Russian forces.

Both regions have been trying to gain formal independence since breaking away in the early 1990s. Russia has now recognised them as independent - a move condemned by Western nations.

'Provocative'

Ms Freeman said the two unarmed OSCE military observers were detained on Tuesday morning in the Nikozi area, south-west of South Ossetia's capital, Tskhinvali, and near the administrative border.

"The two monitors are fine," she told the BBC. "They have been released and are now on their way back to base."

"We will continue to look into the matter very carefully."

Earlier, the head of South Ossetia's separatist administration said the observers had illegally driven into South Ossetian territory in the Tskhinvali region and had been detained by its border guards.

"The actions of the OSCE observers have a provocative nature," Mr Kokoity told Russia's Interfax news agency.

Two OSCE monitors were briefly detained by separatist forces in February after allegedly straying into South Ossetia.

Twenty-eight OSCE military observers have been based in Georgia since 1992, but following last year's conflict, the South Ossetian authorities have denied them access. Russia, which has thousands of troops in the territory, has also objected to their presence.