US, EU reject self-determination in South Ossetia

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 13:43:09 +0000

Last month in the mountainous Caucasus region, the people of South Ossetia voted overwhelmingly in favour of independence from the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. Despite the high turnout in which 99 per cent of the population casted their ballot in support of secession, the Georgian government declared the poll illegal, while the international community rejected the referendum as "unnecessary" and "counterproductive."

The United States, which provides military aid, training and weaponry to the Georgian republic, refused to recognize the referendum, as did the European Union. Although the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) refused to monitor the vote, a team of 34 international observers did oversee the polls, including members from Germany, Austria, Sweden, Ukraine and Venezuela.

The day before the election, the South Ossetian State Security Committee uncovered an alleged attempt to assassinate the Ossetian separatist leader Eduard Kokoity and to carry out a coup d'état in the region. Although the Georgian government denies the accusation, Alan Parastayev, the chairman of the Supreme Court, turned himself into the State Security Committee and confessed to being involved in the plot.

With the exception of a handful of villages controlled by the Georgian government in Tbilisi, South Ossetia is a de facto independent state. An autonomous territory of Georgia in the then-Soviet Union, South Ossetia first declared independence in September 1990. Open warfare between Georgia and Ossetian separatists soon followed, ending with a 1992 ceasefire agreement. Most South Ossetians desire reunification with North Ossetia, currently part of Russia, from which they were separated during the Soviet period.

Rob Maguire

Qurban Hussain

West Papua still struggling for independence

Fri, 17 Mar 2006 15:48:17 +0000

The Australian government has moved 43 West Papua refugees to refugee processing on Christmas Island, according to SBS News.

The island made headlines in 2001 when the Australian government moved 420 asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka to Christmas Island and refused to allow them to apply for refugee status.

The asylum seekers claim to have left Indonesia's West Papua province because of government violence. According to an article written by journalist John Pilger, 10% of West Papua's population has been killed since Indonesia began its occupation of the province in 1949.

West Papua, known in Indonesia as Irian Jaya, only comprises 1% of the population of Indonesia, but with 21% of the land mass, it is home to a wealth of natural resources, including gold, copper, nickel, wood and oil. West Papua is home to the "world's largest gold reserve and third-largest copper deposit," according to Pilger. Life expectancy and government provisions, however, are lower than in the rest of Indonesia, and infant mortality is higher.

In January, four teenagers on their way to school were killed by the Indonesian military, according to activists stationed in West Papua. One of the teenagers was a close relative of members of the 43 refugees currently being held on Christmas Island. Nick Chesterfield from the Australia-West Papua National Authority suggested that the killings were in retaliation to the refugees leaving Indonesia.

Geordie Gwalgen Dent

The Dominion - independence

US, EU reject self-determination in South Ossetia

West Papua still struggling for independence