UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY PASSES RESOLUTION ON RETURN OF REFUGEES TO ABKHAZIA

armradio.am
16.05.2008 17:00

During its plenary session of May 15 the UN General Assembly passed a
resolution, in which it recognizes the right of return of all refugees
and internally displaced persons and their descendants, regardless
of ethnicity, to Abkhazia, and underlines the urgent need for rapid
development of a timetable to ensure the prompt voluntary return of all
refugees and internally displaced persons to their homes in Abkhazia.

Representatives of 105 countries preferred to abstain. Another 62
delegations did not participate in the voting. Fourteen countries
voted for the resolution, another 11 voted against.

The Resolution was supported by Albania, Azerbaijan, Chzechia,
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia,
Sweden, the US and Ukraine.

Russia voted against the Resolution, considering that it will result in
new tension in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict. Russia’s position was
supported by Armenia, Belarus, Venezuela, India, Iran, the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea, Myanmar, Serbia, Syria and Sudan.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry criticized as counterproductive on Friday a
move by the UN General Assembly to adopt a Tbilisi-sponsored resolution
on the return of refugees to Georgia’s breakaway republic of Abkhazia.

"The vote results clearly demonstrate that the international
community has actually failed to support Georgia’s maneuvers on
the problem. Russia voted against the project and gave a statement
explaining its position," the ministry said, describing the resolution
as a counterproductive move that could complicate further the conflict
between Georgia and Abkhazia.

Russian representative at the United Nations Ilya Rogachev criticized
the resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on refugees and
displaced persons in the zone of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict
calling it counterproductive, distorting the situation in the breakaway
province, and destabilizing UN efforts to promote a comprehensive
settlement of the conflict.

"The document imposes a distorted image of the Georgian-Abkhazian
conflict, conceals its history, and considers only certain
consequences, but forgets about the reasons of the existing
situation," he told the General Assembly on Thursday commenting on
the Georgia-drafted resolution.

"It is clear that the given initiative has been designed by the
authors to pressure the Abkhazian side in order to resolve political,
but not humanitarian tasks," Rogachev said.

Tbilisi hailed the resolution as a victory on the international arena,
said Giorgi Baramidze, Georgian minister for Euro-Atlantic integration.

"This is a significant victory on the international arena regarding
the protection of our interests," Baramidze said.