Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Ethnic conflict is among the bitter legacies of the Soviet era

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Ethnic conflict is among the bitter legacies of the Soviet era

    The Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey)
    August 9, 2008 Saturday
    FINAL EDITION



    Ethnic conflict is among the bitter legacies of the Soviet era

    by JONATHAN S. LANDAY, McCLATCHY-TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
    WASHINGTON


    Until heavy fighting erupted yesterday, the feud between Georgia and
    its rebel enclave of South Ossetia was one of the "frozen conflicts,"
    the stalemated territorial contests between ethnic groups ignited by
    the former Soviet Union's collapse.

    GEORGIA-SOUTH OSSETIA

    South Ossetia is a mountainous enclave of 70,000 people in the
    Caucasus bordering Russia. One-third of its population is
    Georgian. The ethnic Ossetians, who speak a language related to Farsi,
    seek union with their brethren across the mountains in North Ossetia,
    which is inside the Russian Federation.

    Georgia, whose 4.4 million people speak Georgian and Russian, voted
    for independence after the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991. Ethnic
    clashes erupted in South Ossetia in 1989 as the Soviet Union headed
    toward breakup, prompting the deployment of Soviet troops. Sporadic
    unrest continued after Ossetian leaders declared their intention to
    secede.

    The bloodshed abated after Russia, Georgia and Ossetian leaders agreed
    to form a tripartite peacekeeping force in 1992. But talks failed to
    resolve the standoff, and tensions flared anew after the 2004 election
    of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, who declared his intention
    to reclaim the enclave, along with other secessionist regions of the
    country.

    South Ossetia, which receives political and economic support from
    Russia, voted to secede in 2006, but the referendum wasn't
    internationally recognized. The dispute became enmeshed in the larger
    tensions between the United States and Russia over the expansion of
    NATO, which Georgia is seeking to join with American backing.

    GEORGIA-ABKHAZIA

    Georgia also is grappling with breakaway Abkhazia, a region of about
    250,000 people on the Black Sea whose separatist leaders receive
    strong backing from Moscow. Ethnic Georgians were a majority of the
    population there when the Soviet Union collapsed and Georgia became
    independent. Ethnic Abkhaz began agitating for independence and
    fighting erupted, prompting Georgia to send in troops.

    Georgia charges that Moscow provided the assistance that allowed
    Abkhaz rebels to drive out the Georgian troops in 1993. Thousands of
    ethnic Georgian civilians also fled.

    MOLDOVA-TRANS-DNIESTER

    Trans-Dniester, most of whose population speaks Russian and Ukrainian,
    declared independence in 1990 from Moldova, which is dominated by
    Romanian speakers. The declaration has never been recognized
    internationally.

    Hundreds of people died in fierce fighting that erupted after Moldova
    became independent, prompting Russia to send troops. The narrow strip
    of territory between the Dniester River and Ukraine has since gained
    notoriety as a center of international organized crime.

    Trans-Dniester's leaders held a referendum in 2006 that reaffirmed the
    independence declaration and set a goal of union with
    Russia. Negotiations on ending the dispute have made no progress.

    NATO has demanded that Russia withdraw its troops from
    Trans-Dniester. But Moscow continues to maintain a base there,
    ostensibly to protect a stockpile of weapons whose removal the
    separatist leadership has blocked.

    NAGORNO-KARABAGH

    Nagorno-Karabagh is a region in Azerbaijan, an overwhelmingly Muslim
    former Soviet republic. But the enclave's population is mainly ethnic
    Armenian and Christian. Ethnic clashes erupted even before the Soviet
    collapse, in 1988, prompting Azeris to flee the region and neighboring
    Armenia, and ethnic Armenians to flee Azerbaijan. The number of
    displaced people is estimated at about 1 million.

    Up to 30,000 people are thought to have died before Russia brokered a
    1994 cease-fire. Internationally mediated talks between Azerbaijan and
    Armenia have failed to resolve the dispute.
Working...
X