PRESS CONFERENCE BY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF GEORGIA

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 NorthOssetianRepublic 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.

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