Broader Security Council will meet with some empty seats

An extended session of the Security Council, in which a broader range of political representatives will take part following a suggestion made by President Mikheil Saakashvili to the opposition, will be held today. According to the agreement reached at the first such session, held at the beginning of August, the opposition was to present a list of what it called political prisoners to Ministers so they could work on their release. However the opposition declare that the Government has not kept its promise.

The Parliamentary opposition and political parties which participated in the regular Security Council sessions have now been joined by the Industrialists, Freedom Party, Traditionalists and Alliance for Georgia in the extended sessions. The Security Council discusses Georgia’s foreign policy course, re-establishing the territorial integrity of the country and gaining international support.

The Conservative Party of Georgia will not take part in today’s session. It says that this will not be a real session of the Security Council. “It will be a speech by the President broadcast live and we are not going there just to listen to Saakashvili,” says Kakha Kukava, Co-Leader of the Conservative Party. The Conservatives will participate only in functional sessions. Our Georgia – Free Democrats has not decided whether to take part. “This decision will be taken later, after Alasania returns from Germany,” explained member of the party Viktor Dolidze.

The leader of Democratic Movement-United Georgia, Nino Burjanadze, is not planning to take part in the session. “It will be the next Government farce. We have not seen any real results from the previous session held in August,” she stated. However the Movement for Fair Georgia is ready to participate. Member Petre Mamradze has stated that the party will always take a chance to share its ideas with the Government. “The last session of the Security Council ended without real results and we do not want to be accused by the public and the international community of not taking the chance to make a productive contribution,” added Mamradze. He added nevertheless that the sessions are only PR stunts and will not produce any positive results.

Political analyst Ramaz Sakvarelidze has told The Messenger that he does not understand why the Security Council was formed. “It is a dangerous body. It was the responsible for what happened last August. Collaboration between Government and opposition here will be more productive.”

The first extended session of the Security Council was due to be held at the beginning of September, but did not take place. It was postponed until the second half of September, but again did not take place. The reason for this further postponement has not been made public.