Security Council’s Scheduled Squabble
// The UN Security Council discusses Georgia
The Tuesday session of the UN Security Council was devoted to Georgia. The main topics of discussion were plans proposed by Tbilisi and the West for the settlement of the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-Ossetian conflicts. Judging from the reaction of the Russian diplomats, Moscow took little inspiration from those ideas.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon noted in his report on conditions in the Georgian-Abkhazian and Georgian-Ossetian conflict zones that the situation has deteriorated in the last four months. He mentioned the series of bomb blasts in Abkhazia and the continual shootouts in South Ossetia in particular and suggested that the disturbances are due not only to the conflict between Tbilisi and Sukhumi and Tskhinvali, but worsening Russian-Georgian relations as well. The secretary general emphasized the need for “consultations with the two parties and those international organizations and Member States, including the Group of Friends, that have been most directly involved in the peace process… to avert further worsening of the political and security situation.” In essence, the secretary general acknowledged, in veiled form, the need to enlarge the peacekeeping format by adding soldiers from other countries to the Russian contingent.
The secretary general’s report set the tone for the Security Council discussion on Tuesday. The main topic of discussion was differences in plans for a peace settlement that gave been advanced by diplomats and politicians. There were several options suggested by Georgia. First, there was Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s plan to give Abkhazia broad autonomy within Georgia. Second is a draft agreement on the nonuse of force in the conflict zones that Georgian Ambassador to the UN Irakly Alasania discussed with Abkhazian leaders in Sukhumi in May. Then there is a set of proposals that Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze discussed in Moscow in June. In addition, they considered plans suggested by Western diplomats: the three-stage plan proposed by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the proposals unveiled recently in Tbilisi by Deputy Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Matthew Bryza.
Although the discussion took place behind closed doors, the participants’ reactions afterward showed that it had not been fruitful. Russian UN Ambassador Valery Churkin was one of the first to comment and he made it clear that the sides continue to insist on their own views. “The first thing we are waiting for is an agreement on the nonuse of force,” Churkin said. “The second important element is the withdrawal by Georgia of its forces from the upper part of the Kodori Gorge. That is a serious irritant in the conflict zone and they must be removed.” According to Churkin, the Security Council is now working on a document that will take the form of a statement by the secretary general on Georgia. “We hope the Security Council will once again send a signal to the Georgian side that it must renounce the use of force,” he said.
The outcome of the session was evaluated similarly in Sukhumi. “The UN secretary general’s report and the discussion in the Security Council reflect all the issues we have been raising all these years,” Abkhazian Foreign Minister Sergey Shamba told Kommersant. “Everything that we have said about Georgian has been confirmed there: that it is building up forces in the security zone and in Kodori Gorge, that the incident with the attack on the bus during the parliamentary elections in Georgia was provoked, that the flights of the Georgian pilotless aircraft were a violation of the 1994 Moscow Agreement and so on.” In short, Sukhumi does not intend to make any compromises with Tbilisi. Abkhazian President Sergey Bagapsh stated yesterday that negotiations on the nonuse of force will begin only after Georgian forces are withdrawn from Kodori Gorge.
The outcome of the session was seen in a different light in Tbilisi. “Recent events in the UN Security Council are a major defeat for Russian diplomacy,” a source in the Georgian Foreign Ministry told Kommersant. Speaker of the Georgian parliament David Bakradze was even more categorical. “The secretary general of the UN directly accused Russia in his report of escalating tension, and Mr. Churkin’s comments cannot change that,” Bakradze said. “It’s all the machinations of Soviet diplomacy. Not only Mr. Churkin, but his leaders in the Russian Foreign Ministry are turning to similar machinations more and more.”
The Western proposals did not stir enthusiasm on either side. A Kommersant source in the office of the minister of state for conflict resolution stated that “The Abkhazian side, bolstered by Moscow’s support, broke off negotiations in Berlin on Steinmeier’s plan, which were planned for the coming days.” He continued, “At Moscow’s instigation, Sukhumi set the condition that the Abkhazian delegation be invited to Berlin not by the German Foreign Ministry, but by the UN secretary general’s group of friends, because Germany was trying to seize Moscow’s initiative and change the format of the settlement.” Tbilisi did not like Bryza’s plan. “In the course of his visit, Bryza said that our police contingent in Kodori might have to be recalled, and that is unacceptable,” a source at the Georgian Foreign Ministry told Kommersant.
Moscow was especially skeptical of the West’s plans. “They are all unrealistic suggestions,” commented a high-placed source in the presidential administration.
Georgy Dvali, Tbilisi; Andrey Odinets
All the Article in Russian as of July 31, 2008
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