Civil Georgia, Georgia
Oct 28, 2004
Georgian Ambassador’s Letter to the UN Security Council over Abkhazia
New York, 26 October 2004
Dear Mr. President,
I have the honour to write to you and, through you, to draw attention
of the Security Council to the recent developments in the conflict
resolution process in Abkhazia, Georgia.
In doing so, I should like to express my sincere gratitude to the
Secretary-General Mr. Kofi Annan and his Special Representative Ms.
Heidi Tagliavini for their tireless efforts to bring about a
comprehensive political settlement of the protracted conflict in my
country.
The latest events in Abkhazia barely leave us grounds for optimism, and
I think that this situation is objectively reflected in the report of
the Secretary-General. Indeed, the UN-led peace process in the region
has reached its critical juncture.
Ardzinba’s ethnocratic regime has always sought to thwart the peace
process. His no-compromise policy is bringing our peaceful efforts to
naught and could ultimately damage the peace talks beyond repair. In
this context holding of the illegitimate and self-styled presidential
elections by the Abkhaz separatists on October 3, is yet another
attempt to imbue legality to the demographic changes resulting from the
conflict. It is being done in flagrant disregard of the position of the
international community manifested in the Security Council numerous
resolutions and Presidential Statements to affirm illegitimacy of the
elections when 300 000 Georgian population are forcibly driven out of
the region. By the same virtue, the elections fail to sustain even
scant semblance of democracy putting aside its violation of
international law in the environment where violence and human rights
violations constitute routine of life.
Against this background, the Ministry of the Russian Federation, which
praised the elections in a statement of October 4, 2004, as “calm and
democratic”, appeared to be the only dissenter in the international
community. With tension in the region at its height fuelled by the
presence of the terrorist groups known as Confederation of Mountain
Peoples, best known by their notorious commander Shamil Basayev, the
situation is anything but calm (clarification: Shamil Basayev served as
a Deputy Defense Minister of the separatist regime in 1990’s.).
Moreover, the presence of foreign terrorist groups of the Confederation
highlights the acute problem of the illegal influx of arms and armed
groups through the unilaterally open Abkhazia section of the
Russian-Georgian border. Especially in the aftermath of the tragedy in
Beslan, the Russia’s border policy comes at odds with the real needs
and interest of combating terrorism and ensuring security. Otherwise
one can not explain of closure of the only legally operating checkpoint
in Zemo Larsi, while two other illegal checkpoints with the
secessionist regions of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia
remain opened. At the end these measures affect not potential
terrorists but ordinary, law-abiding people from Georgia, Russia and
Armenia, whose interests are mainly harmed by the unpredictability of
the border crossing regime. Numerous protests of Georgia on this
matter remain unheeded.
The escalation of the situation in the region was preceded by
unprecedented in breadth involvement and interference of certain
political circles in Russia in Abkhazia, Georgia; President Putin
himself in display of Russia’s support publicly met one of the
“candidates for President of Abkhazia”. Russian political and
pop-artists have been mobilized to support the Kremlin favorite.
The “electoral campaign” unfolded in milieu of reopening of a railway
link between Moscow and Sokhumi after 12 years remaining dysfunctional.
The event protested by Georgia as infringement upon its sovereignty and
violation of international law attested to the level of damage caused
to the UN-led peace process by the broken commitments – President
Putin’s formula that implementation of economic projects in the region
must be synchronized with the return of refugees and IDP’s is either
completely ignored or cynically countered with the contention that they
have already returned in Gali district. Those, who attempt to
capitalize on spontaneous returnees, enduring almost everyday violence
and intimidation, are deliberately mistaking organized return in safety
and dignity for its antithesis.
Mr. President, notwithstanding this complex development, the Government
of Georgia is committed to resume negotiations for the settlement of
the conflict in Abkhazia, Georgia, with any leader who will succeed Mr.
Ardzinba. However, the progress in this matter would require from the
Abkhaz side to master the requisite political will for the constructive
engagement in the negotiations, in particular on so called Boden
document on “Basic Principles for the Distribution of Competences
between Tbilisi and Sokhumi” as well as allow for establishment of the
Human Rights Office branch in Gali, address the problem of teaching of
Georgian children in their native language and consent on deployment of
the UNOMIG civilian police component in Gali district, which as pointed
out in the Secretary-General’s report is implemented only on Georgian
side where it receives “good cooperation”.
The same extends to the Russian side, which has to overcome its own
bias in favor of the secessionists and take into account the interests
of the peace process as a whole, in particular interest of thousands of
refugees and IDP’s, instead of vehemently protecting and advancing of
the interests of Abkhazs at any cost and at every international fora.
In this respect, the attitudes instilled through the Russian media are
both dangerous and alarming – overwhelming majority of them depict
Abkhazia as a region of the Russian Federation inhabited by Russian
citizens and Russia as duty-bound to protect them by all means against
the Georgian “aggressors” including use of military force and
mercenaries, interference in the “election process” for installing
local political leaders loyal to Moscow, etc. For many in Russia these
actions are appropriate modus operandi in carrying out the role of the
mediator in the conflicts.
Mr. President, in finalizing, I should like to go back to the point
with which I started this letter – the substantial progress in the UN
led peace process is contingent upon willingness of all its
participants to honor their commitments and to engage into constructive
negotiations with the genuine aim of resolving conflict. In the absence
of this, the Security Council resolutions are bound to become mere
exhortations of good intentions by a supreme organ of the UN,
implementation of which depends on the political whim of the Abkhaz
side (why not if the Abkhaz side is almost convinced that intransigence
will always go unabated).
Mr. President, all would agree that present status-quo in the process
of the conflict resolution in Abkhazia, Georgia, is untenable and
therefore resolute steps are required to overcome the present
stalemate. Otherwise, and I can not but ring an alarm here, the more
this “frozen” conflict remains unresolved, the more difficult it
becomes to find a compromise for long-lasting peace.
The Security Council has both authority and, I hope, willingness to
take lead in reinvigorating the UN led peace process. Therefore, we
wholeheartedly invite the Security Council to foster its involvement in
the conflict-resolution process in Abkhazia, Georgia. One of the steps
that the Security Council could make at this stage, we think, would be
field visit to Georgia – particularly to Sokhumi -to learn firsthand
the reality on the ground and try to come out of stalemate in the
conflict-resolution process.
I should be grateful if you would have the text of the present letter
circulated as a document of the Security Council.
Sincerely,
Revaz Adamia
Ambassador, Permanent Representative