PRESS CONFERENCE BY Georgia special representative

 

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) today, summarizing the main achievements during her four-year term, told correspondents the Mission had maintained stability and helped avoid a war in the region, without any casualties in the 400-person operation.

Briefing at a Headquarters press conference, Heidi Tagliviani said the four years had been difficult, exciting and full of surprises, such as the Georgian Rose Revolution in 2003 and the protracted election process in Abkhazia in 2004, events that had had a great impact on the peace process.

Four years ago, negotiations over a political solution had been completely deadlocked, as one side had rejected it.  At the same time, the security situation in the conflict zone was difficult.  To overcome the deadlock, she had started to address practical matters, such as economic rehabilitation of the destroyed conflict area, and the internally displaced persons and refugee issues.  The Mission had elaborated basic proposals to address a dignified and fair return of internally displaced persons and refugees and it had seriously worked on security guarantees.  One side wanted assurances of non-use of force, while the other side demanded a fair and dignified return of internally displaced persons and refugees.  She was confident that her successor would be able to have the two documents on those issues signed.  That could establish the necessary confidence to address the status question.

To tackle the security problems, she had deployed a United Nations police force.  Unfortunately, one side had been reluctant to deploy that force on its side.  Policing was an important element, as in the conflict zone the problems were not so much security related, but more crime related. Recently, the Coordinating Council had been resumed.  That Council was a mechanism for negotiations on practical issues that had been abandoned in 2001.  Lately, the sides had proposed their ideas for a future settlement of the conflict.

In conclusion, she noted that, with her departure, the last female Special Representative of the Secretary-General would leave peacekeeping operations.

As a diplomat, she could not comment on the “war of words” –- as one correspondent put it -– between Georgia and the Russian Federation during yesterday’s private meeting of the Security Council on the situation in Abkhazia, Georgia, she said.  However, she stressed that that was the environment mediators had to work in.  The statements made yesterday showed a fundamental uneasiness about an unsettled conflict with many problems and human rights violations.  The Russian Federation played the role of a facilitator in the peace process led by the United Nations.

Asked whether the Russian Federation had been helpful in that role, she answered by asking, “Have we been helpful? Have we settled the conflict? Have the sides been helpful?”  She stressed the fact that often she felt resistance of both sides to the process.  Disinformation irritated both sides and reduced the willingness to tackle the problems.  Such disinformation was related to crimes on the ground.  Those crimes were often reported incorrectly, in such a way that they created an outcry among the local population.

Answering a question about Georgian allegations that Abkhazian banks were engaged in money laundering, which might attract terrorists, she said bank regulations were beyond her mandate.  Her mandate was limited to the conflict zone, a 25 kilometre zone on both sides of the ceasefire lines, military observation of a ceasefire and assistance and support to facilitate a comprehensive political settlement.  The banking issue, however, again underlined the fact that an unsettled conflict produced such questions.

Addressing another question, she said the right to have education in the mother tongue was one of the issues that fell under “a fair and dignified” return of internally displaced persons and refugees.  The issue had been addressed, and a meeting of education experts from both sides was scheduled for the coming weeks.  The language of use in Abkhazia was Russian.  The problem was teaching the Georgian language and the problem had constant attention.

As for a correspondent’s suggestion to engage experts from a bilingual country such as Belgium, she said she had shown the sides the way the Swiss federative system worked.  In that system, there was respect for all cultures, but great autonomy for the regions.  She had also brought the sides to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo, as well as to Southern Tirol/Trentino.  However, as a neutral mediator, she could not suggest that the sides work on such models.  She hoped that common sense would bring the best solution to the conflict.

Asked if the way the Georgia issue was handled would be a good way to address the issue of Transdniestria in Moldova, she said that in Abkhazia, Georgia, the United Nations lead peace process was a very active process, because it had the double function of military observation and facilitation of political dialogue.  That was a constant engagement.  Dialogue had never stalled between the two sides.  The peace process led by the United Nations was a good example of what such a process could be.  However, a solution could not be forced on anybody.  A solution must be mutually agreed upon, which required sacrifices from both sides.  As for South Ossetia, she said that conflict should be treated separately.

As for whether an independent Kosovo would imply independence for Abkhazia, she said every conflict was different.  She did not back independence for Abkhazia, as that was not within her mandate of finding a comprehensive settlement of the conflict within the internationally recognized borders of Georgia.

Asked if she though Georgia might withdraw from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), she said she was sure that the Government in Georgia would weigh all the implications of such a decision.  The presence of a CIS peacekeeping force in the conflict zone was a complication in that regard.

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For information media • not an official record