Un Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon Proposes to Create New Security Regime Between Georgia and Abkhazia
The Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon proposes to create a new security regime between Georgia and Abkhazia based on which new tasks and the mandate of the Mission of the United Nations in the region can be developed, the report of the Secretary General of the United Nations distributed in the United Nations headquarters on Tuesday May 19 says.
Officially the “Report of the Secretary General pursuant to Security Council resolutions 1808, 1839 and 1866" was handed over to the members of the Security Council of the United Nations late at night on Monday. For the first time the name of the document does not contain any reference to belonging of Abkhazia to Georgia as the previous reports of the Secretary General of the United Nations on this subject did. Earlier the title of each of them contained the words ‘on the situation in Abkhazia, Georgia".
One of the paragraphs of the report prepared mentions "United Nations stabilization mission" that can actually mean Ban Ki-moon's offer to change the name of the Mission. The secretary General has also proposed 11 elements of the new security regime, including creation of security zones on land, at sea and in the air, restricted zones, mechanisms of mutual notification, UN monitoring, transparency arrangements including access and provision of information and so on. On the basis of this new regime, according to the report, a new mandate of the mission should be developed.
Officially the members of the Security Council of the United Nations will consider the report at the session on May 27 where it will be presented by the Special Representative of the Secretary General Johan Verbeke. And till June 15 when the present mandate of the mission expires, the Security Council should adopt the resolution on the basis of the proposals of the Secretary General stated in the report.
It is obvious that the new security regime is supposed to replace the regime that has existed according to the 1994 Moscow agreement on cease-fire which de facto ceased to function after the Georgian party has left it last August. The Secretary General proposes to preserve per se some elements of that regime.
The updated mandate, according to Ban Ki-moon, should include the tasks to monitor and verify implementation of the security regime as proposed; to maintain contacts with the parties and other actors, including through the joint incident prevention and response mechanism; to facilitate the freedom of movement of the local population across the ceasefire line, including through monitoring at crossing points; to contribute to the provision of humanitarian assistance and the creation of conditions for the safe and dignified return of refugees; to facilitate protection of human rights; to facilitate contacts between the parties, with a view to promoting cooperation on practical issues, confidence-building and dialogue. The report also contains estimation of the developments in the Mission’s area of responsibility since February, 2009. In particular, the Secretary General mentions that activities of different parties - Georgian, Russian and Abkhaz are not corresponding with the Security Council resolutions.