UNOMIG Mandate Extended

On January 28 the UN Security Council extended the mandate of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) until 31 July, 2005 and also called for a settlement of the Abkhaz conflict with the respect of Georgia?s territorial integrity, the UN press center reported.

The UN Security Council stressed the need to define the status of Abkhazia within the state of Georgia.

The Security Council said it deeply regretted the refusal of the Abkhaz side to discuss the distribution of “competences” between Tbilisi and Sokhumi on grounds of its 1999 unilateral “declaration of independence.”

The Council also called on the Abkhaz side to improve law enforcement involving the local population and to address the lack of instruction in their mother tongue for the ethnic Georgian population.