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Moldovan Reintegration Minister Vasili Sova has said the actions taken by the administration of Tighina (Bender), which poses obstacles to Moldovan police and other Moldova-controlled institutions in this city, destabilise the situation, harms the Chisinau-Tiraspol negotiations, and channels the settlement process to deeper confrontation.
The Reintegration Ministry quoted Sova as saying in a press release that on September 25, 2003 the Tighina municipal council issued a decision on termination of all sorts of activities of the Moldovan police unit there. Two days later, the chief of the local administration ordered Transnistria-controlled law enforcement bodies to arrest the Moldovan policemen on duty or out of duty in the city.
This situation may get out of control and is a rude violation of a 1992 bilateral agreement on ceasefire and peaceful settlement of the conflict, according to Sova.
In this context, the minister called on the Tighina administration to "take urgent measures for stabilisation and avoidance of provocations with unpredictable consequences. He also cautioned the OSCE Mission, Russian and Ukrainian diplomats over the "declining situation, threats to peace and stability in the region." Moldovan authorities appeal to the embassies working in Chisinau, the Council of Europe, and the European Union to help prevent a new crisis.
Last month, the chief of the local administration in Tighina - a city located on the right bank of Dniestr river but controlled by the Transnistrian authorities - renewed an ultimatum to transfer the Moldovan police unit to Varnita, a suburb controlled by Moldova. Tiraspol's mouthpiece Olvia-Press published on Tuesday a letter to Moldovan Premier Vasile Tarlev, Interior Minister Gheorghe Papuc, and to the chief editor of the Russian-language governmental paper Nezavisimaya Moldova, in which the local authorities in Tighina invokes a case of abuse committed by two policemen in this city. The entire police unit faces accusations of "misconduct" in this incident, while commanders are charged with "very permissible attitude towards offences committed by their subordinates."
In turn, representatives of Chisinau issued a statement early this month in which their describe an old decision of Tighina administration regarding the stoppage of activity of Moldovan police in this city as a rude meddling with activities of the Joint Constitutional Commission (JCC), fearing that this fact might direct to cancellation of a 1992 ceasefire agreement. The Moldovan delegation noted that the JCC has unconditionally respected the principle of division of functions and did not attempt on prerogatives of the local authorities, while the Tighina administration enlarged arbitrary its competences and cause a tense situation in the city and security zone.
According to Chisinau's representatives, Tiraspol's claim is groundless because it contradicts the 1992 ceasefire agreement, which sees that the police forces of both sides will work together in Tighina.
In reply, Tiraspol's representative Oleg Gudimo said the local administration will start unilateral actions uncoordinated with the JCC, in order to exclude the activity of Moldovan police in Tighina.

BASA-PRESS