Resolution mechanisms of the Transnistrian conflict

Abstract

The study is organized in seven subchapters that are presenting the causes and the history of the Transnistrian conflict, the war and also the structure and character of the mechanisms which were involved in the mediation process and the analysis of their solutions. There was identified a quadripartite mechanism which was created at the CSCE Helsinki Conference (23rd of March 1992) and which had as mediators the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Moldova, Russia and Romania. This mechanism tried to mediate a cease-fire agreement. The study describes also the bilateral negotiations held between the Russian Federation and Moldova, which had actually annulled the previous mechanism, and which had succeeded in establishing a cease-fire agreement that set the path for the peaceful negotiations. This mechanism which entailed the bilateral negotiations was subsequently expanded with the inclusion of the OSCE mediators in 1993 that soon had proposed a solution which envisaged the creation of a federation. I had noted the main criticisms which were addressed to this solution. Another mechanism known as five-sided format was set in 1997 and it had included the two parties to the conflict (Transnistrian and Moldovan representatives), Russian and Ukrainian mediators which had acquired also the role of guarantors, and the OSCE mediators. This mechanism had envisaged negotiations upon several solutions as the OSCE Plan, the Kozak Memorandum, and the Youshtchenko Plan, all of which had stipulated the creation of a Moldovan federation. However, the negotiations concerning these solutions didn’t lead to a major breakthrough. The conflict resolution process, as stressed by the peacemaking concept, also could entail initiatives from the non-governmental organizations or individual initiatives. In order to prove this point I had characterized "Three D Strategy" Plan, which was propped up by the Moldavian civil society, and Belkovski Project, which came as an individual initiative, but however claimed to represent the official Russian stance. Another individual initiative came from Vladimir Voronin, the Moldovan president, and it envisaged a law on Transnistria's special legal status. Finally, the analysis focuses on the recent developments of the conflict which had again expanded the resolution mechanism with the inclusion of the United States and European Union as observers. In the description of the 5+2 negotiation format there were traced the future prospects of this new mechanism. Throughout the presentation of the Transnistrian conflict there were examined the implication of the 14th Army in this conflict and especially its influence on the mediation process, as well as the influence of the Russian mediators.