Abkhaz Senior Official on UN SG’s Report

Stanislav Lakoba, secretary of breakaway Abkhazia’s national security council, said that he saw no major change "in essence" in the UN Secretary General’s recent report on Abkhazia.

He said that it was changed wording of the title, which no longer includes phrase “Abkhazia, Abkhazia” was “a positive” element of the report. The title of the report is as follows: “Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to Security Council resolutions 1808 (2008), 1839 (2008) and 1866 (2009)”.

“However, in the resolutions, which the reference is made to in the title, Georgia’s territorial integrity is mentioned,” Lakoba said, according to the Abkhaz news agency, Apsnipress. “Also a reference is made in those resolutions to the 1994 Moscow agreement [on ceasefire and separation of forces], which actually is nonsense, because situation has totally changed and [reference to that agreement] is not reflecting the current reality. So in this regard there has been little change [in the Secretary General’s recent report].”

The Security Council’s two previous resolutions on Abkhazia – 1866 of February 2009 and 1839 of October 2008 – does not including phrase like Georgia’s territorial integrity, but they both make a reference to the resolution 1808 of April 2008, which says that the Security Council “reaffirms the commitment of all Member States to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders.”

The Security Council is expected to adopt a new resolution on June 15, when the current four-month mandate of UN observers, who monitor situation on the both sides of the Abkhaz administrative border, expires.

Stanislav Lakoba said that the new resolution would be “a moment of truth” for Abkhazia.

“If the references is again made to the previous resolutions, that would mean that from the legal point of view Abkhazia remains within the Georgian state for next 15-20 years, no matter how veiled it may be presented [in the new resolution]. In this case, we would better reject the UN mission’s presence here,” Lakoba said.

“We cannot achieve it [presence of UN observers] at any price and the Abkhaz leadership has numerously stated about it,” he continued. “After recognition of Abkhazia it is also not favorable for the Russian Federation to support the UN Security Council’s resolutions, which somehow recognize Georgia’s territorial integrity.”

He said that even if the mission would be renamed in the new resolution by removing “Georgia” from its title (UN Observer Mission in Georgia was the name of the mission for over a decade), that would “have no sense” if the new resolution makes reference to the previous ones. 

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