Following a 16-17 March meeting in Moscow of the Joint Control Commission that monitors the situation in the South Ossetian conflict zone, Georgian Minister for Conflict Resolution Giorgi Khaindrava said the two sides have signed a protocol setting specific dates for the resumption of the demilitarization process. Under an agreement signed in November 2004 by the late Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania and Eduard Kokoity, president of the unrecognized Republic of South Ossetia, that process should have been completed by 20 December, but according to Khaindrava it was delayed by bad weather. It was also agreed to schedule a meeting between Kokoity and Zhvania\'s successor, Zurab Noghaideli. Khaindrava positively assessed the role of the Russian peacekeeping contingent deployed in the conflict zone. Boris Chochiev, the South Ossetian co-chairman of the commission, proposed convening a meeting of human rights activists to discuss an exchange of Georgian and Ossetian prisoners. (Caucasus Press)