Authorities in breakaway Abkhazia have renewed their efforts to be invited to UN headquarters in New York to brief the Security Council about their position on the conflict resolution process.
In a statement issued on January 23, the Abkhaz Foreign Ministry said that this would enable representatives of the UN Security Council to get unbiased information regarding the current situation in the breakaway region.
The Security Council is expected to discuss the situation in the Abkhaz conflict zone and pass a new resolution on Abkhazia in April 2007. Meanwhile, the Security Council is scheduled to hold consultations over the UN Secretary General?s progress report on Abkhazia on January 24.
?By using all available tools for economic and political isolation of Abkhazia, the Georgian leadership misrepresents the facts, which leads to false understanding of the current situation in Abkhazia by the international community. A one-sided approach towards the problem of Georgian-Abkhaz relations does not promote the search for compromise and a peace solution of the conflict,? breakaway Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergey Shamba said in the statement.
Sokhumi?s attempts to voice its position in the UN are backed by Moscow.
Russian envoy to the UN Vitali Churkin, who holds the Security Council?s rotating presidency for January, said his country may seek the invitation of the Abkhaz officials at the UN headquarters during the discussions in April.
In October 2006, Russia wanted to convene an informal meeting between the UN Security Council and breakaway Abkhazia?s Foreign Minister Sergey Shamba. But Shamba failed to arrive in New York after the United States declined him a visa. The Russian Foreign Ministry responded with a statement saying that the U.S. decision deprived the Security Council from getting ?a balanced impression about the situation in the conflict zone.?
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