Mr. Chairman, we too, would like to welcome Ambassador Lacombe to the Permanent Council today, and to thank him for making the extra trip to Vienna to report on a number of emergent issues. We have found his detailed written remarks particularly useful. I would also like to welcome General Hee here today, and thank both gentlemen for the very helpful discussion at yesterday's informal meeting.

Mr. Chairman, please allow me now to comment briefly on the major issues Ambassador Lacombe addresses in his report.

To begin, let me say that the United States shares Ambassador Lacombe's concern over the negative developments in South Ossetia and Abkhazia in recent months. We welcome the expected continuation next month in Lisbon of political status talks on South Ossetia. Perhaps progress in this area could also somehow contribute to a resolution of the apparent difficulties within the Joint Control Commission and the Joint Peacekeeping Force.

The situation in Abkhazia is also regrettable, although the Mission's mandate leaves the OSCE with limited possibilities for involvement in the security and political settlement issues there. That said, however, we welcome the Mission's useful projects under its broader Human Dimension mandate for all of Georgia.

I would also like to thank Ambassador Lacombe for highlighting a serious issue that the United States has been following very closely for a number of years: the problem of religious intolerance in Georgia.

The United States is deeply concerned with the lack of accountability for the continuing attacks by Orthodox extremist groups in Georgia on Jehovah's Witnesses, Evangelical Christians, and the human rights advocacy groups defending them. There is no universal right more fundamental than the freedom to worship one's God peacefully in the faith of one's own choosing.

Regarding the OSCE Border Monitoring Operation in Georgia, the United States fully supports the work of the Border Monitoring Operation to date. General Hee and his staff deserve praise for their dedication and commitment. Of course, no operation is perfect. We therefore welcome the decision of the Chair and Ambassador Lacombe to conduct a thorough review of the Border Monitoring Operation over the next month.

Such a review should certainly address a number of important issues, including those of staffing, equipment, cost efficiency and modalities of reporting. Perhaps such a review will allow us all to consider how additional information, such as that included in Ambassador Lacombe's report, can be reflected in future reporting from the Border Monitoring Operation itself.