The Main Caucasian Range divides his republic, Russia's North Caucasian autonomy, from South Ossetia.
"The four commission co-chairs have gathered in Tskhinvali [South Osset capital] for conference. I hope they will get the developments back to normal negotiations," President Dzasokhov said to a news briefing in Vladikavkaz, North Osset capital.
"If things take whatever other turn, it will be understood as encroaching on previous understandings-particularly, on the most burning issue of all. I mean peaceful settlement of the Georgian-Osset dispute, which has been brewing since 1991. More than that, any other developments will boil down to commission work torpedoed."
The President has strong objections to parallels drawn between South Ossetia and Adzharia, another unrecognised republic in Georgia. "The two have not many things in common-suffice it to say that South Osset warfare of thirteen years ago took more than a thousand Osset lives.
"That is why there is no way for the Georgian top to re-enact in South Ossetia a simple pattern it used to settle the Adzhar issue." Things went smoother is Adzharia as it is populated by ethnic Georgians, even though they are Muslim converts of centuries ago-unlike Georgians, known for Christian piety. The population of the other recalcitrant republics, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, is not ethnically akin to Georgians.
Armed action in South Ossetia spells for Georgia the shortest cut to escalated tensions, with results hard to predict, warned Alexander Dzasokhov.
"We North Ossets may regard current developments in South Ossetia as sheer emotion. But then, if that is so, Tbilisi must prove its goodwill by practical action. As Georgia reassured on a number of instances, it is willing to help South Ossetia to cure its dislocated economy.
"Such steps, instead of soldiers coming in allegedly to fight smugglers, would be the best way to bring Georgian-Osset relations back to normal.
"If Georgia cannot afford it now, there is another way-to make South Ossetia, for five or even ten years, a best-favoured economic and financial zone with soft taxation. That would help South Ossetia to cope with economic revival single-handed," said the President.
