UN Mission Extended Pending Outcome of Geneva Talks

The UN Security Council extended the mandate of the UN observer mission in the Abkhaz conflict zone for another four months, instead of the usual six months.

A brief resolution, which diplomats described as “a technical rollover,” reads that the Security Council decided “to extend the mandate of the UN mission for a new period terminating on February 15, 2009.”

The resolution does not even mention the mission’s official name – UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG).

“There were efforts to change the name of the mission,” The Associated Press quoted Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, as saying after the Security Council session. “There were efforts to gain status for some entities.”

The secessionist authorities in Abkhazia have said several times since the Russian recognition of the region’s independence that they would seek a change in the UN mission’s name, arguing that as the mission operates in Abkhazia, it should have no mention of Georgia in its name.

“We resisted those changes, those efforts,” the U.S. ambassador continued, “and what we have is a simple, clear, technical rollover for four months to allow the Geneva discussions to go forward.”

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in his report to the Security Council about the situation in Abkhazia that with the August war the UN mission’s future role was unclear. He said international consultations should be held in frames of the Geneva talks, scheduled to start on October 15, to agree on the UN mission’s exact mandate. The Geneva talks were agreed on September 8 between the French and Russian presidents.

Vitaly Churkin, the Russian UN ambassador, said after the Security Council session that Moscow hoped the Geneva talks would provide an opportunity to “allow the mandate to be corrected in accordance with the new realities” – referring to the Russian recognition of Abkhazia.

Meanwhile, the secessionist authorities in South Ossetia said although they were ready to cooperate with the OSCE, this cooperation should not be conducted through the OSCE Mission in Georgia. The mission has its headquarters in Tbilisi and had a field office in Tskhinvali before the August war.

“The OSCE Mission in Georgia had been working here throughout the years,” Murat Jioev, the foreign minister of breakaway South Ossetia, said on October 10 in comments posted on the South Ossetian Press and Information Committee’s website. “Since we are already a recognized state, we can no longer work with the OSCE Mission in Georgia… We have sent a letter to the OSCE [Finnish] Chairmanship, saying that the OSCE Mission in Georgia can no longer work here [in Tskhinvali].”

He said the South Ossetian side wanted OSCE officials to travel to and from Tskhinvali through Russia, not Georgia.

“OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Knut Vollebaek, while visiting Georgia, informed us about his willingness to travel to South Ossetia,” Jioev said. “We, however, responded that the Foreign Ministry could only consider his request if his trip was routed through Russia.”

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