Recognition of improved security conditions in the Tbilisi-controlled upper Kodori Gorge is what the Georgian side wants to see in the new UN Security Council resolution on Abkhazia expected for April 15.
Official in Tbilisi are also asking for the removal of a now traditional passage from the resolution hailing the “stabilizing role” of Russian peacekeeping forces in the Abkhaz conflict zone, though they admit that it is not likely to happen.
“There cannot be any new, positive decisions about peacekeepers at this stage. Russia will immediately veto any alternative proposals on it,” Merab Antadze, the Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues, told Civil.Ge on March 9.
The adoption of a so-called roll-over, technical resolution, simply extending the mandate of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia, would be a better option for Tbilisi rather the passing of a document hailing Russian peacekeepers and that doesn’t note positive trends in upper Kodori Gorge, Kote Gabashvili, a senior parliamentarian from the ruling party, said.
“If the Security Council is not yet ready to reflect these conditions in the resolution, a simple roll-over would be a better option for us,” MP Gabashvili, who chairs parliamentary committee for foreign affairs, told Civil.Ge on March 9.
State Minister Antadze says that a technical resolution, which was already adopted once last February, is less likely now, “but it is not ruled out.”
He said that unlike the Abkhaz side, Tbilisi is following its commitments set by the previous resolutions of the UN Security Council.
“And this should be reflected in the new resolution. First of all, it should be noted that the Georgian side’s activities conform [with the requirements of previous resolutions]. The new resolution should reflect those problems that persist in [the Georgian-populated] Gali District, including persisting problems in respect to the Georgian language there; permanent terror imposed on the local population by the Abkhaz separatists; a call for an immediate opening of the UN and OSCE Human Rights Office in Gali and the deployment of a UN police component there,” Antadze said.
He also said that there are positive signs coming from the international community indicating that the attitude towards the Russian-led peacekeeping operation is gradually changing as there are more and more evidence undermining Russia’s role as neutral peacekeeper.
Antadze also said that the time will come when the Russian-led peacekeeping operation will be replaced with an international one, but noted that this should be a “painless process.”
“Russia is a major problem on this way of replacement… This replacement should not lead to a vacuum that may create unpredictable conditions,” he added.
Last October the UN Security Council passed a resolution on Abkhazia with a focus on the situation in Tbilisi-controlled upper Kodori Gorge. As a result of Russia’s insistence, the resolution noted that “a new and tense situation” in Abkhazia resulted, at least in part, from the Georgian special operation in the gorge in July, 2006.
But Tbilisi claimed that the operation was needed to restore rule and order in the gorge, noting that it eventually led to the resumption of monitoring in the area by a joint patrol of UN observers and Russian peacekeepers. Two monitoring missions were held in 2006, one in October and another in December.
The recent monitoring mission observered the presence of an approximately 250-man Georgian police force in upper Kodori Gorge; this is technically not a violation of the 1994 Moscow cease-fire agreement, which bans the deployment of military troops in the area.
But the Abkhaz side demands the withdrawal of all armed Georgian groups from the gorge and in addition insists that the Tbilisi-backed Abkhaz government-in-exile pull out of its headquarters in upper Kodori.
