Transnistrian Conflict on September 13–26, 2004

One month after the beginning of the academic year, the lyceum “Lucian Blaga” from Tiraspol and the Romanian lyceum from Ribnita remain closed and the parents of almost 1200 pupils of these two schools are being subjected to continuous harassment by the Transnistrian break-away authorities, ranging from threats of criminal prosecution and deprivation of parental rights to administrative fines for failure to transfer their children to other schools.

The EU, OSCE, COE and the mediator states have renewed their calls upon the Transnistrian authorities to reopen the two schools, while the Moldovan Parliament has finally adopted a statement condemning the actions of the Transnistrian authorities against the Romanian schools and have decided to send a delegations of deputies to Moscow at the end of September to discuss the schools issue with their Russian colleagues. Meanwhile, the Moldovan Ministry of Education has adopted a plan of measured in support of the eight Moldovan Latin script schools from the Transnistrian region. These include upgrading the material and technical situation of the schools, provision to the schools of teaching and didactic literature, provision of financial aid for the renovation of school premises, and free meals to pupils of grades 1 to 4. At the end of September, a delegation of Moldovan parliamentarians is to visit Moscow to discuss the schools issue with their Russian counterparts.

As the situation on the ground has seen few developments over the past two weeks, the Transnistrian issue has featured in a number of high-level statements made in Moldova and abroad. At a press-conference held on 16 September within the CIS Summit in Kazakhstan, the Russian President Vladimir Putin said that although Russia would not oppose the enlargement of the current negotiations format, this would be a useless move that might turn the negotiations into some “talking shop”. Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma shared his Russian counterpart’s view on changing the negations format, and deplored the failure of the Moldovan Government to sign the Kozak Memorandum, which, to Kuchma, was a real opportunity for the two sides to end the crisis situation. Moreover, Kuchma said that the conflict could not be solved through economic sanctions or military means and that Ukraine did not support the economic blockade instituted by the Moldovan authorities against Transnistria.

In the meantime, the Moldovan President Voronin, who did not attend the CIS Summit in Astana on grounds that the Summit did not discuss issues important enough, has called repeatedly on the international community to get involved in solving the Transnistrian conundrum. He has advocated for the institution of an international monitoring mission along the Transnistrian segment of the Moldovan-Ukrainian border and for the replacement of current peacekeepers, who are “siding with the Transnistrian regime”, with international blue helmets.

The Transnistrian issue has been one of the main themes of the one-day visit to Moldova of the NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on 23 September. After meetings with President Voronin, Foreign Minister Stratan and Defence Minister Gaiciuk, de Hoop Scheffer held a press conference, to which he told that the international community should get involved in the Transnistrian conflict resolution. Although NATO does not have a direct role in the Transnistrian crisis, it is committed to finding a fair and final resolution of the conflict. He reiterated NATO’s traditional position that Russia should observe its 1999 Istanbul commitments and withdraw its troops and weapons from Moldova accordingly, and committed to assist Moldova in its efforts to determine Russia to evacuate its military and arms from the Moldovan soil.

President Voronin’s failure to attend the Astana CIS Summit has been interpreted by many observers as a demonstration of Voronin’s break up with the East and reorientation to the West in his efforts at resolving the Transnistrian conflict. This move has been welcomed by a large part of the Moldovan political opposition and is well received by such important western figures as the NATO Secretary General. At the same time, President Voronin denies any possibility of negotiating with the Transnistrians and has accused on a number of occasions the two mediator states — Russia and Ukraine — of supporting the Transnistrian regime. His statements in this sense seem to be inspired from the commentaries of the analyst from The Wall Street Journal, Vladimir Socor, a renowned critic of Russia and proponent of the internationalisation of the conflict resolution efforts, whose commentaries are regularly published by the Moldovan Governmental newspaper “Moldova Suverana”. Thus by making the stake only on the western vector and at the same time antagonizing the main players, it seems that the Moldovan authorities are running out of opportunities to solve a multidimensional crisis with important regional ramifications as is the Transnistrian issue.

e-democracy.md

Transnistrian Conflict on September 13–26, 2004

Archive