Unofficial consultations on Dniester region conflict to be held in

KIEV, November 16 (Itar-Tass) - Preparations for a summit conference
of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe /OSCE/, due in
the Kazakhstani capital Astana in early December, will be the focal point
of unofficial consultations on settling the conflict around Moldova's
breakaway Dniester region that begin here Tuesday.
The consultations will be held in the Five plus Two format embracing
Moldova, the Dniester region, the OSCE, Russia, Ukraine, as well as the
U.S. and the EU as observers.
Monday, the Foreign Minister of the unrecognized Dniester Republic,
Vladimir Yastrebchak said that "these consultations will be held at
Ukraine's initiative under the OSCE auspices."
"Quite naturally, this happening is immediately related to the OSCE
summit in Astana in December," he said.
According to Yastrebchak, the participants in the Kiev meeting will
review with situation around the dragged-out peace settlement process and
will sum up the results of Kazakhstan's term of the OSCE rotating
presidency.
"One of the issues to be discussed is the systemic approach to the
functioning of inter-departmental groups of Moldova and the Dniester
Republic - an activity that was launched in the course of consultations in
the Bavarian resort town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen last week ,"
Yastrebchak said.
"At that meeting, the sides had a frank enough discussion of
shortcomings the experts run into in their everyday activity and they also
looked at the measures that may help give more system to this work," he
said.
The talks in the Five plus Two format were broken off in February 2006
and dialogue between Moldova's central government in Chisinau and the
authorities of the Dniester region resumed with Russia's aid only two
years later.
In April 2008, Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin and Dniester
President Igor Smirnov held a meeting in Moscow, the first one after an
interval of seven years.
However, the uncertain situation in Moldova where the political forces
have been unable to elect a national president for more than a year by now
brought the peace settlement process to a halt again.
The Dniester region, a de factor independent state having a
predominantly non-Moldovan population and a fairly well developed
manufacturing sector, broke away from Moldova at the end of 1991 after the
latter had declared itself independent from the USSR.
In 1992, the conflict between the former parts of a once united
Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic escalated into a bloody war.