UN Secretary General Issues Report on Abkhazia

The March 11 rocket attacks in the Tbilisi-controlled upper Kodori Gorge in breakaway Abkhazia were ?a major setback? to efforts to bring peace, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said in his latest report to the Security Council issued on April 5.

Information provided in the report will serve as a basis for a new resolution on Abkhazia which the Security Council plans to pass on April 10. Georgian PM Zurab Nogaideli is expected to be in New York at that time.

Ban Ki-Moon also said in the report that the March 11 attacks were ?a reminder of the risks with which the conflict is still fraught, and the potential for existing tensions to take a violent course.?

The Joint Fact-Finding Group, comprised of representatives of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), the Georgian government, the Abkhaz side and the Russian peacekeeping force, carried out an investigation of the incident. But no findings have been released yet.

The UN Secretary-General said he hopes the investigation ?will help clarify the circumstances behind this incident.?

The Secretary-General also noted ?signs of progress? which have recently appeared.

He hailed the continued joint patrols of the Kodori Gorge by the UN observers and Russian peacekeepers as one example of the progress being made, adding that the patrols observed no heavy weapons and a reduction in the number of Georgian armed personnel since a similar patrol in October last year.

Ban Ki-Moon also welcomed the appointment of an international human rights officer in the Georgian-populated Gali district of Abkhazia.

The officer, from the Human Rights Office in Sokhumi, has been in place since March. He operates out of the UNOMIG Gali sector headquarters with a view to strengthening the capacity of the Office and liaising with the newly created Human Rights Centre in Gali, which was formed by Gali and Sukhumi-based non-governmental organizations. The Human Rights Centre?s programme for 2007 includes legal aid to Gali residents; human rights training, including the training of the local de facto administration; awareness-building; and the creation of an information and resource centre.

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