231
specifics. Among the decisions was a cease-fire to be effective as of 28 June;
withdrawal of Georgian troops from around Tskhinval; the setting up of a special
control committee; and the deployment of a peacekeeping force composed of
Russian, Georgian and Osetian troops was set up.
561
The agreement that signed in Dagomys in fact did not satisfy both of the
conflicting parties. With the words of the Uryzmag Dzhiayev, the South Osetian
Foreign Minister, the outside powers were “married us [Georgians and Osetians] in
our absence”. The basic reason of the Osetian uneasiness was the deployment of
the Georgian troops in South Osetia as a peacekeeping forces. Therefore, Dzhiayev
added that, “we are pinning our hopes on Russia, but if no effect is forthcoming on
its part, the Confederation of the Mountain Peoples of the Caucasus could be such a
force”.
562
The last meeting of the Confederation related with the Osetian-Georgian
conflict was held in Ingushetian town Jeyrakh on 29 June. At the end of the
Parliament’s sitting, Shanibov issued a statement on the Dagomys agreement, on an
outline peace plan for the Georgian-Osetian conflict, and on the latest events in the
region.
563
He expressed Confederation’s concern that the armed confrontation
could lead to a deterioration of the situation throughout the Caucasus. And the
560
“North Osetia Blocks Passage of Caucasus detachments to South Osetia,” SWB SU/1392, B/11,
28 May 1992.
561
The first units of the peacekeeping forces entered the conflict zone on 14 July 1992. Also see
Suzanne Crow, 18 September 1992. “The Theory and Practice of Peacekeeping in the former
USSR,” RFE/RL Research Report, 1(37): 33.
562
“South Osetian Foreign Minister Interviewed on results of Dagomys meeting,” SWB SU/1422,
B/9, 2 July 1992.
563
“Caucasus Parliament Meets to Discuss North and South Osetia,” SWB SU/1423, B/2, 3 July
1992.
232
Confederation’s most concrete solution was deploying the Confederation’s troops
in peacekeeping role in South Osetia.
Despite the Confederation’s belief of its success, after the Dagomys
agreement, a relatively benign atmosphere facilitated between the Osetians and
Georgians and of corse Russians. Especially by the beginning of the Abkhaz
conflict this process gained momentum and the links between the Osetians and the
Confederation gradually weakened. The conflict between the Osetians and the
Ingush then strengthened this split and from the end of 1992, “historical strains in
the relationship between the Osetians and the peoples of the North Caucasus come
to the fore”.
564
In other words, by the Russian intervention to the conflict and the
Osetian preference towards Moscow evaporated the mood of cooperation and unity
of the period of 1989-1991. Nevertheless, the Georgians attacked to Abkhazia and
the relatively calm situation in the South Osetia forced the Confederation to turn its
all activities to Abkhazia.
2- The Ingush-Osetian Problem:
565
The basic reason of the clashes between the Ingush and the Osetians, the
only incidence of large-scale inter-communal violence within the Russian
Federation, was the dispute over the question of who should control the
564
Jonathan Aves, 1996. Georgia from Chaos to Stability? London: n.p., 35.
565
For the detailed account see, Olga Osipova, 1997. “North Osetia and Ingushetia: The First
Clash,” in Alexei Arbatov and et al . Managing Conflict in the Former Soviet Union: Russian and
American Perspectives, Cambridge: 27-82; Julian Birch, “Osetia: a Caucasian Bosnia in
Microcosm,” Central Asian Survey, 14(1): 52-68; and “Osetiya –land of Uncertain Frontiers and
Manipulative Elites,” Central Asian Survey, 18(4): 512-528; Felix Corley, 1994. “The Ingush-
Osetian Conflict,” Jane’s Intelligence Review, September, 401-403.
233
Prigorodnyi rayon and the east of the Vladikavkaz in the North Osetian republic –
the Ingush or the Osetians.
Of the two peoples, by the Caucasian standards, the ancestors of the Ingush
certainly earlier inhabited the North Caucasus, long predating the arrival of the
Osetians. The latter arrived in the northern part of Osetia in around the 6
th
century
AD. Both of these peoples also divergent from the religious side; the Ingush were
converted to Islam in the course of the 1860s, while the Osetians, to a considerable
extent converted to Christianity under the Russian influence, though there have
been a significant number of Muslim Osetians. Nevertheless, despite the existence
of the tensions, the emergence of clashes between these peoples was relatively new.
It basically was a result of the repeated recurving of boundaries in compliance with
the Soviet divide-and-rule policy. Beyond that, the absence of clear and effective
political structures and the general stability caused the intensification.
After 13 years of exile, the Ingush were rehabilitated in 1957 by the decree
of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR after the death of Stalin and
the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Republic was reinstated but the Prigorodnyi was
not included in the restored territory. However, some returnees went back to their
houses in Prigorodnyi only to find their lands and houses occupied by Osetians and
others; the scenario for the future conflicts was thus prepared. A series of protests
by the Ingush throughout 1970s and 1980s were met by the Osetians with both
officially sponsored and unofficial countermeasures in areas such as housing
allocation on jobs, as well as periodic curfews when small scale clashes occurred.
When the Supreme Soviet of the SU adopted the decree “On the
Recognition as Illegal and Criminal of All Acts Against the Peoples who have
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