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Despite having signed a cease-fire agreement 15 years ago which established a peacekeeping presence, Moldova now wants them out

BENDER (Tiraspol Times) - Today marks the 15th anniversary of the signing of the cease-fire agreement which ended the 1992 Transdniester War. After having crossed the Dniester river and attempted to take control of Transdniester, Moldovan forces were unable to win and had to accept defeat in the war with the signing of a cease-fire document on 21 July 1992.

The document, entitled "Agreement on Principles of a Peaceful Settlement of the Armed Conflict", ended the war which in a few months had taken over 1,000 lives and produced an estimated 100,000 refugees among Transdniestrians who sought safety in Ukraine and in Russia.

After signing the cease-fire, a peacekeeping operation was launched which involved Russian, Moldovan and Transdniestrian troops. Later, in 1998, Ukraine also joined and is today the fourth country which provides troops to the multilateral peacekeeping force that was designed to prevent new bloodspill between the two banks of the Dniester river.

To date, the operation being conducted by the Joint Peacekeeping Force, comprising servicemen from Russia, Moldova and Transnistria, and also Ukrainian military observers who joined them in 1998, remains one of the most successful and effective in the history of peacekeeping.

Thanks to the peacekeepers’ efforts not a single serious incident has taken place between the conflicting parties over the last fifteen years in the Security Zone established on the Dniester and there has been no loss of human life among the civilian population or troops participating in the operation.

Reduced number of peacekeeping troops

Under the terms of the cease-fire agreement with Moldova, Russia has the right to station up to 2,500 Russian troops in the area. This was the initial number of troops, but as the risk of violence lessened, more than half of these troops have now been withdrawn.

In 1998, when elements of mutual trust showed up in relations between Chisinau and Tiraspol, a meeting in Odessa decided to greatly reduce the number of peacekeepers and give up use of heavy weapons. Today, peacekeepers are only armed with small arms and light weaponry and Russia keeps less than 400 troops on active peacekeeping duty at any given time - fewer than the number of troops provided by Moldova and Transdniester to the joint effort.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE, participates with military observer status in the oversight of peacekeeping operations. The stabilizing role of the peacekeeping operation in Transdniester was repeatedly noted at OSCE summits. As a result, an American suggestion earlier this year that the format of the peacekeepers should be changed by introducing NATO troops was immediately rejected by key elements of the Joint Control Commission.

Including military observers and troops from all five sides, the total active peacekeeping contingent does not exceed 1,200 personnel. This is less than 10% of the number of troops which NATO has under uniform to keep the peace in Kosovo, another area of Europe which is seeking independence.

The peacekeeping force in Kosovo, KFOR, consists of approximately 17,000 troops. At its height, KFOR troops numbered 50,000 compared to the just 2,500 troops at its height for Transdniester. Peacekeeping operations in Kosovo are estimated to cost the United States $2.5-3 billion a year. But whereas Kosovo peacekeeping is often seen as bloated and expensive, the much smaller and cheaper "peacekeeping light" operation which was established between Moldova and Transdniester in 1992 is today widely regarding as a success.

In Kosovo, violence erupts on a regular basis and NATO is unable to prevent the repeated loss of lives. In Transdniester, no one has died in clashes between the sides since the cease-fire was signed fifteen years ago.

Moldova calls for ending cease-fire agreement

Russia is one of the main guarantors of upholding the cease-fire agreement and preventing the outbreak of new violence. According to a statement from its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in present-day conditions the peacekeepers’ mandate fully corresponds to the tasks in maintaining stability on the banks of the Dniester for continued negotiations between the parties in conflict on a political settlement in accordance with the OSCE principles.

Operating on a permanent basis, the Joint Control Commission and Joint Military Command provide day-to-day leadership of the peacekeeping forces while duly observing the principle of consensus for the purpose of building relations of mutual trust between the sides and exercising necessary control in the Security Zone, says the Foreign Ministry, while adding that "Russia intends to continue rendering maximum assistance in creating a climate of trust and reducing the level of confrontation between the parties in conflict, as well as to comprehensively facilitate in cooperation with the mediators from Ukraine and the OSCE and observers from the EU and US the earliest possible restoration of a constructive dialogue between them with a view to achieving an all-embracing and enduring settlement."

Moldova, however, doesn't see things that way. In the week of the 15th anniversary of the signing of the cease-fire agreement which halted the war, Moldova's former parliamentary deputy speaker Iurie Rosca called for the agreement to be torn up. The leader of Moldova's Christian-Democrats and owner of Chisinau's influential Flux newspaper believes that rescinding the cease-fire is the ideal answer to Vladimir Putin's suspension of the CFE treaty. Earlier, Moldova's Ministry of Foreign called on Russia to withdraw from the Joint Control Commission and the peacekeeping effort.

" - But with the Moldova-signed cease-fire agreement still in place, there is no legal basis for doing this," said an on-duty peaceekeeper on the day of the 15th anniversary. "And without the cease-fire agreement in place, there will be war again."

See also:
» "Peacekeepers must leave", says Moldova's foreign minister [1]
» UN Security Council member: "All sides must agree to peacekeeping changes" [2]
» Russia has complied with Istanbul agreements, its NATO official says [3]