PRESS RELEASE

UN Department of Public Information, Yerevan Office
2 Petros Adamyan str., First Floor
Yerevan 375010, Armenia
Contact: Armine Halajyan, UN DPI Information Assistant
Tel.: (374 1) 560 212
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PRESS CONFERENCE BY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF GEORGIA

The Security Council should not become an exclusive club of privileged
nations — its decisions should be transparent and clear to the
international community, Georgia’s Permanent Representative to the United
Nations, Revaz Adamia, told correspondents at a Headquarters press
conference this afternoon.

Mr. Adamia called the press conference following yesterday’s closed
consultations of the Council on the situation in Abkhazia, Georgia. On
Friday, 28 January, the Council was expected to act on a resolution to
extend for another six months the mandate of the United Nations Observer
Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG).

As a country on whose territory the conflict took place, Georgia had
requested the Council to call a private meeting and to invite the country’s
delegation, and to allow it an opportunity to make a statement, Mr. Adamia
said. The rationale had been that Council members should be interested in
the position of the Government of Georgia, especially in light of recent
changes in the country. The Council, however, had preferred to conduct
closed consultations, without the presence of the general public, the media,
and representatives of Georgia. A possible reason for such a lack of
transparency was a lack of progress in the conflict-resolution process. He
would argue, however, that there had been no progress in resolving the
conflict because there was no transparency in the process.

Behind such a practice was the position of the Russian Federation, he said.
It was not the first time that that country had blocked Georgia’s
representative from speaking at a Council meeting. The truth was that,
despite officially proclaiming support for the territorial integrity of
Georgia, Russia still backed the secessionist regime there. By providing
Russian citizenship, interfering unceremoniously, dictating conditions and
sending its envoys without consulting the Georgian authorities, Russia had
stepped on the path of indirect annexation of Abkhazia.

Russia, he continued, was also illegally acquiring property and land in
Abkhazia through its physical and legal entities; Russian military schools
were still preparing military personnel for the separatist regime; and its
military base was still illegally operating in Gudauta in Abkhazia, Georgia.
The peacekeeping force of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was
covering Abkhaz paramilitaries when they threatened, abducted or even killed
the Georgian population.

In such a situation, one could not expect Abkhaz leaders to take a
constructive position in the peace negotiations, he said, adding “We already
witness statements from their side claiming full independence, associated
membership in the Russian Federation and, most recently, inadmissibility of
the return of refugees and IDPs (internally displaced persons)”.

The President of Georgia had stated on numerous occasions that his country
was for a peaceful solution to the conflict, he continued. Just today, in
Strasbourg, President Saakashvili had come up with a new initiative with
respect to the peaceful resolution of the conflict in South Ossetia. Any
peaceful resolution, however, would be the result of a two-way movement, if
not of a multiplayer process. That required clear, courageous and
transparent decisions from everybody involved.

Elaborating on President Saakashvili’s initiative, Mr. Adamia said that it
was connected to the regulation of the process in South Ossetia. One of its
main points related to the rights to be granted to South Ossetia, which
would far exceed those of the North Ossetian Republic within the Russian
Federation. The initiative covered not only the elections within South
Ossetia, but also the relationship between local authorities and the central
Government in Tbilisi. All the rights of the people of South Ossetia would
be guaranteed, as well as their representation in central bodies.

Such initiatives did not cover the conflict in Abkhazia, he added, exactly
for the reasons he had been speaking about. The position of the new
leadership of Abkhazia needed to be clearer, first of all regarding refugees
and internally displaced persons. Without that, it would be very difficult
for the authorities of Georgia to speak about any kind of peaceful
resolution.