Dutch journalist Stan Storimans, 39, died during an attack on the town of Gori, the birthplace of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, while working for RTL Television. The Netherlands Foreign Ministry said its investigative team sent shortly after the August 12 concluded that Storimans was killed by munitions made and used only by Russia.
Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said in a statement that cluster bombs should not be used
to target civilians, and that no troops were present in Gori. "I have made that clear to the Russian authorities, cluster munitions must not be used in this way."
He said the Netherlands plans to raise the matter with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Russia has denied accusations by human rights groups that it had used cluster bombs during the conflict.
MANY COUNTRIES
In May, more than 100 countries agreed at a conference in Ireland to ban cluster bombs within eight years. Neither Georgia nor Russia signed the accord, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported.
Tensions remain high in Georgia, where European observers have not been allowed to enter the break away regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Moscow has recognized the areas as independent states and some 8,000 troops remain in the areas, despite Georgian and Western opposition.
Russia withdrew its last remaining forces from bufferzones surrounding these regions earlier this month. Meanwhile churches and missionary groups have also reported tensions in several areas of Georgia where several evangelical churches have been destroyed during the conflict. (NEWS WATCH is a regular look at key general news developments impacting the Church and/or compassionate professionals).
