Tbilisi Hails Draft Resolution on UN Mission

The draft resolution that is expected to be passed by the UN Security Council on February 13, is considered by Tbilisi as “a technical rollover” extending UN observers presence for next four months, Grigol Vashadze, the Georgian foreign minister said, on Friday.

“We call technical rollover [a resolution] that is not comprehensive and which does not include calls for launching of a mission that would have peacekeeping, policing and monitoring elements. All the resolution will simply be a technical rollover, unless these provisions are included,” Vashadze said.

He also said that the draft resolution included “very important” points for Georgia; first of all, he said, it was important that the document made a reference to the Security Council’s April, 2008 resolution 1808, which supports “sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders.”

“Secondly,” he continued, “the draft text says the international community will watch implementation of the August 12 six-point ceasefire plan.”

Vashadze also said that the draft contained a call to respect “security regime,” which existed under the 1994 Moscow ceasefire agreement. He also said that the document also reiterated the right of displaced persons to return in safety and security back to their homes in Abkhazia.

The Foreign Minister said the fact that the draft resolution did not mention UN mission by its official name UNOMIG (United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia) – “does not mean anything”.

“The important is that this is one mission and one mechanism with the mandate to operate on the both sides [of the Abkhaz administrative border],” Vashadze said. “So the dream of the Russia’s puppet regime [in Abkhazia] to have two separate UN missions [one in Sokhumi and another one based in Tbilisi] will never come true.”

Meanwhile, Sergey Lavrov, the Russia’s foreign minister, said on February 13, that the UN Security Council members were close to the draft resolution.

“A compromise has almost been reached in the UN thanks to the fact that the corresponding resolution recognizes the need that the new realities should be taken into account,” Reuters reported quoting Lavrov. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in the Kremlin.

He did not give details.

“[The compromise] became possible because agreement was received not only from Georgia about monitors on their territory, but also the agreement of Sukhumi on U.N. observers being present in Abkhazia,” he added.

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