Gone into oblivion

UN observers in Abkhazia and Georgia stopped working

Yesterday at eight in the morning Moscow time, the UN observer mission in Abkhazia and Georgia ceased its work. A few hours earlier, Russia vetoed a draft UN Security Council resolution extending the mission's mandate for two weeks, until June 30. The project was supported by ten countries, including seven of its co-authors - Austria, Great Britain, Germany, USA, Turkey, France and Croatia. Vietnam, China, Libya and Uganda abstained.

Russia was not satisfied with the draft's references to UN Security Council resolutions, including resolution 1808 of April 15, 2008, confirming the territorial integrity of Georgia. Russia's permanent representative to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, called such references "political poison" and said that the rejected document was "based on old realities." “Since such contradictions have arisen that are incompatible with the life of the mission and the possibility of preparing a new draft resolution,” the ambassador noted, “perhaps it would be better to let this mission quietly fade into oblivion.”

UN observers arrived in the region 15 years ago after the 1993 Abkhaz-Georgian war separated the two countries. Moscow placed “full responsibility” for the departure of the mission, “whose long-term work was generally positively perceived in Moscow, Sukhumi, and New York,” on Western countries, “for many months in a row demonstrating ideologically driven persistence.” “They don’t seem to really need UN observers to prevent the Tbilisi leadership from resorting to force,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said yesterday. “What turned out to be much more important was the desire, by hook or by crook, to emphasize in the draft decision of the UN Security Council the existence of Georgia within its former, before August 2008, borders and at the same time to erase Abkhazia from the political map of Transcaucasia, to revive the state of “unsettled conflict”, which in fact has already been resolved.” After the armed conflict around South Ossetia broke out in August 2008, Russia recognized the independence of Tskhinvali and Sukhumi, and Nicaragua soon joined it.

On June 12, Russia's permanent representative to the UN presented an alternative project, which, according to the Foreign Ministry, contained “concrete measures” to ensure security on the Georgian-Abkhaz border, “including objective monitoring by the UN mission.” But Western countries rejected it on June 15, after which Russia could only reject their project. Vitaly Churkin expressed regret that Russia's partners did not share its pragmatic approach. Georgian political scientist Paata Zakareishvili told Vremya Novostey that “Russia’s game was a win-win.”

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that “the UN mission did not play a special role in the stabilization processes,” and therefore its departure “will not affect the situation in the region and the activities of the Russian military contingent stationed in Abkhazia.” But the military did not rule out the possibility of provocations from Georgia. President of Abkhazia Sergei Bagapsh, thanking Russia for using the veto, noted that his republic “stands for the presence of a UN mission on its territory, but cannot agree with the document recognizing Abkhazia as part of Georgia.”

Georgia is disappointed by the termination of the UN mission, but blames Russia for this and is quickly looking for new mechanisms of international control. “I regret that there will be no mission. But it’s good that we managed to avert the threat of erosion of Georgia’s territorial integrity,” State Minister for Reintegration Temuri Yakobashvili commented on the outcome of the vote in the UN Security Council. Foreign Minister Grigory Vashadze believes that the decision to use a veto was “a sign of Russia’s diplomatic defeat,” whose position allegedly turned out to be “unprotected,” and therefore Moscow “was forced to take extreme measures.” The diplomat suggested that Russia “not oppose itself to the civilized world,” which does not accept “the redrawing of borders, the occupation of territories and ethnic cleansing.”

In December 2008, Russia vetoed the extension of the OSCE mission in the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict zone, proposing the creation of separate missions of this organization for South Ossetia and Georgia. Tbilisi did not agree, and as a result, the OSCE mission will close before June 30. Now Russia, according to Vashadze, has also “killed” the UN mission. Only EU observers remain in Georgia, who appeared in October 2008 on the basis of the August post-war agreement between the presidents of Russia and France. But they are not allowed into Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Having recently gone on patrol with EU representatives, a Vremya Novostey correspondent witnessed how they were unable to move beyond the border of South Ossetia and stopped at the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs post. There, in the pouring rain, observers waited for a minibus traveling from the Akhalgori region of South Ossetia to Tbilisi in order to find out from the passengers what the situation was on the spot. But the passengers turned out to be taciturn. After this, the observers carefully examined something through binoculars in an area inaccessible to them, and then returned to the headquarters in Mtskheta, the ancient capital of Georgia, about 20 km from Tbilisi.

Despite this “truncated” mandate of EU observers, it is their mission that Tbilisi is now banking on, since Russia cannot block EU decisions. State Minister Yakobashvili hopes that, taking into account the position of the international community, EU observers will have access to Abkhazia and South Ossetia and will be given police functions. In Moscow, EU observers are called “a significant deterrent,” although at the same time “there are certain questions about them, in particular regarding their potential effectiveness in the event of new aggressive attempts on the part of Georgia.” “We are ready to continue and strengthen interaction with the EU,” the Russian Foreign Ministry assured, “including joint work in mechanisms to prevent incidents.”

Over time, Georgia intends to try to change the format of the UN mission. The head of the parliamentary commission for the restoration of territorial integrity, Shota Malashkhia, told Vremya Novostey that Tbilisi will try to condemn Russia at the UN as an “aggressor” in the August 2008 war: “This will allow us to use a mechanism to replace the mediation of Russia, which, as a participant in the conflict, will no longer be able to use veto. Then the UN mission could return to Abkhazia, no longer in any way connected with Russia or its peacekeepers who have been in the conflict zone under the auspices of the CIS since 1994.”

However, Georgian political scientist Paata Zakareishvili noted to Vremya Novostey that the termination of the UN mission in Abkhazia benefits only Russia: “Now the Georgians, if they want to communicate with the Abkhazians, will not do this without the Russians. The UN was a moderate, balanced, cautious mediator and served as a platform for the dissemination of objective information. Georgia threw out the baby with the bathwater, because in these diplomatic battles we are losing Abkhazia. Regular consultations of the parties in Geneva, conducted under the auspices of the UN, EU and OSCE, may also be in question.”

Mikhail VIGNANSKY, Tbilisi, Alexander SAMOKHOTKIN