USA Rejects Validity fo Referendum
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Tuesday, 25 July 2006
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Russia urged to take similar position and to encourage renewed negotiations.
Washington -- The United States does not recognize the validity of the independence referendum set for September 17 in Transnistria -- a separatist region within Moldova -- says the Julie Finley, U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Speaking to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, Austria, July 18, Finley said the referendum recently announced by the ?unrecognized Transnistrian Supreme Soviet ?cannot be taken seriously or treated as a legitimate vote; no state recognizes the so-called Transnistrian authorities as a legitimate government.
She said the United States is urging Russia ?to state publicly, as we have, that Russia supports Moldova's territorial integrity and that it does not recognize the validity of the referendum. We also urge the Russian Federation, in its claimed role as a neutral intermediary, to encourage the Transnistrians to cancel this provocative referendum and to pursue in good faith a settlement of the conflict.
A narrow strip of territory in eastern Moldova, Transnistria declared independence in September 1991. Soon after, fighting broke out between the government forces and Transnistrians. The conflict was halted by Russian troops, which remain in the region despite Russian pledges at the 1999 OSCE Istanbul Summit to withdraw them.
Talks concerning the status of Transnistria have been ongoing since 1992, although they broke down in mid-2004. After a 15-month hiatus, the talks resumed in October 2005, introducing for the first time the ?Five-Plus-Two format, referring to the five principal participants involved in the negotiations -?? Transnistria and the Republic of Moldova as the two sides, and Ukraine, the Russian Federation and the OSCE as mediators plus the United States and the European Union as observers.
However, in April the United States expressed its disappointment that the negotiations again had broken down, and that the round of talks scheduled for April 3-7 had been postponed indefinitely.
On July 18, Finley told the OSCE that the Transnistria referendum scheduled for September 17 will ask if voters "support the course of independence" for Transnistria and then "joining" the Russian Federation. A second question ?asks if citizens favor ?˜rejection of the independence?? of Transnistria and subsequent reunification with Moldova, she said.
As in many previous statements about the Transnistria issue, the United States continued to urge Russia ?to fulfill its Istanbul commitments.
?Moldova has the right to choose whether to allow foreign military forces on its territory. The current Russian presence does not have Moldova's consent and is not contributing to a settlement of the conflict, Finley said.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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