Separatists Question UN, OSCE Role in Negotiating Process

Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergey Shamba slammed the UN Security Council for a ?partial attitude? towards the Abkhaz side. He said that the forthcoming summit of secessionist leaders in Sokhumi would discuss the expediency of continuing talks under the UN aegis, Apsnypress news agency reported on April 6.

Leaders of breakaway regions of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transdnestria – Sergey Bagapsh, Eduard Kokoity and Igor Smirnov, respectively ? will meet in Sokhumi on April 10-11 within the framework of the Community for Democracy and Human Rights, an organization which was set up by the three secessionist leaders last June in Sokhumi.

Shamba also noted that the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Transdnestria also have similar complaints regarding the OSCE’s bias in the negotiating process.

?We will probably raise the issue: who will become the key mediator in the conflict resolution;  someone we trust,? Shamba said.

The Abkhaz side has been told it will not be given a hearing at the UN Security Council session which is scheduled to discuss the situation in Abkhazia on April 10.

The Abkhaz Foreign Minister said that ?the United States, which participates in the negotiating process as an observer, should not oppose our participation in the UN Security Council session so actively.?

?Russia, as a mediator in the Georgian-Abkhaz negotiating process, has the right to demand that our position be heard. Russia, alongside with the UN, is responsible for the peace process,? Shamba said.

He noted that the UN Security Council constantly recognizes Georgia?s territorial integrity, ?while we insist on our right to self-determination.?

?These and other disappointments may influence further peacekeeping process under the UN aegis,? Shamba added.

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