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UN Security Council Settles the Abkhazian Resolution
// And it suits Georgia, Russia and the U.S.
The UN Security Council passed Resolution No. 1752 at the end of last week, extending the mandate of the UN observer's mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) another six months. No one doubted that it would happen. The question is how it will evaluate the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict. There is also a question about the U.S.'s refusal to grant a visa to the foreign minister of Abkhazia to speak before the UN. RIA Novosti correspondent Dmitry Gornostaev reports from New York, specially for Kommersant.
In spite of heated debates in the last Security Council session, Resolution No. 1752 on the UN observer's mission in Georgia was passed unanimously in three minutes last Friday, after diplomats managed to remove all possibly offending material in close consultations.
After the vote, Georgian Ambassador to the United Nations Irakli Asilania spoke to journalists. He was clearly pleased with the resolution, which included a reference to Georgia's territorial integrity. It also urged the return of refugees and displaced persons, including those born in the post-conflict period and contains a condemnation of the shooting in the upper reaches of the Kodori Gorge, which is controlled by Tbilisi, and acknowledges Georgia's progress in fulfilling Resolution No. 1716.
A reporter asked Asilania about Georgia's position on Kosovo and was told that “The Security Council has not clarified its position. Therefore, we will wait.”
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin spoke to reporters a few minutes later. He was eager to speak about Abkhazia and Kosovo, all the more so since the Security Council okayed a Russian initiative to send the ambassadors of the permanent member-states to Kosovo April 24-28.
Churkin praised Resolution No. 1752 as well. He was particularly satisfied with the acknowledgment of the stabilizing role of the Russian peacekeepers in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict zone and the appeal to Georgia to observe the Moscow ceasefire agreement. He said that Georgia's implementation of Resolution No. 1716 can only be called satisfactory after the tense situation in the Kodori Gorge is resolved. Russia has accused Georgia of stockpiling ammunition and creating a military infrastructure there.
U.S. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff also praised the resolution's mention of Georgia's territorial integrity.
Dmitry Gornostaev
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 16, 2007
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