November 11, 2003
Excellency,
Before I proceed, I would like to thank, through you, the Secretary General, the Secretariat, and in particular, SRSG Mrs. Heidi Tagliavini and the UNOMIG staff, for the tireless efforts to move the peace process in Abkhazia, Georgia ahead, even when the task seems to be extremely difficult.
I would also like to express out thanks for the SG’s quarterly report on the peace process, which clearly delineates both progress and lack of it, in the last three months. It is in that spirit that I write to you today. It is incumbent on all of us to look upon the peace process in its entirety, to point out what we have achieved and what still needs to be done.
On the positive side of the events, my government wholeheartedly welcomes what we have come to know as the Geneva Process. The three main directions elaborated during the last two meetings in Geneva bear major significance and could potentially bring us closer to real progress. However, as the Foreign Affairs Minister of Georgia stated during his general debate address, it must remain a priority that the process be result oriented and not merely a process. The creation of the task forces as foreseen in the first Geneva document have not been carried through. It is our belief that it is right time to move ahead on this issue.
On numerous occasions, we have noted the significance of the Sochi meeting between the presidents of Georgia and Russian Federation. The agreements reached there are of utmost value and potential. The working groups created under the Sochi agreement, have been formed and held their meetings. However, as it often happens, there is lack of tangible results. The understanding reached on the presidential level, does not seem to trickle down to the enforcement level.
The conditions of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) and their return, which the working groups were tasked to address, remain unchanged. Despite the proclamation of the so-called synchronization, the term introduced by the President of Russian Federation, the process goes on one-sided – the railway connection between Sokhumi and Sochi is still proceeding without a hinge, while not a single IDP has “synchronically” returned to his/her rightful place of residence. Furthermore, the attempts are underway to reopen the marine communication between the two cities without the consent of the Georgian Government.
One of the most significant new developments in the peace process is the introduction of the civilian police component in the Gali district. Undoubtedly, it is a positive trend, which should enhance the security situation for the IDPs, as well as for the international personnel present in the region. The related visit by Georgian and Abkhaz law enforcement officers to the Balkans has had a welcome effect on the situation on the whole.
The Security Council is well aware how thorny the peace process has been in the past ten years, since the end of hostilities. Uncertainties and disappointments have marred the efforts of many good men and women involved in the process. However, there can hardly be uncertainty in one fact – the fact that when the Security Council manages to master up enough courage and constructive spirit, problems get solved. It is in this spirit that I would like to share with the Council our views on what remains to be done, beyond the positive elements I discussed above, so that the real progress can be achieved.
In a document after another, the importance of the progress in political process is strenuously highlighted. The Geneva documents also rightly recognize that no real progress can be achieved without nearing the political solution. However, the Abkhaz leadership, with a reckless disregard to the will of the international community, still refuse to accept the “Boden Paper”. The onetime efforts to transmit the document to the Abkhazs, have also lost all wind. The Security Council, much to our disbelief, finds it insurmountably difficult to even endorse the document, giving it the authority of all members of the Council.
Much to the detriment of the peace process, the unilateral actions of one member of the Security Council still continue, despite our stated protestations. The railway connection is still operating, the en-masse issuance of the Russian passports to the residents of the separatist region has never slowed down, and the visits of the official representatives and politicians of the Russian Federation to Abkhazia is on the raise, each time issuing the promise that Abkhazia will never be abandoned by Russia. Most discouraging is the deliberate efforts by these visitors to discredit all potentially positive role this Security Council member can play in the peace process. Case in point: these visits are taking place in the background of recent recommitment of the Russian Federation at the last CIS Summit in Yalta (September 2003) to the 1996 Decision of the CIS Heads of States.
I have to report that unfortunately nothing has changed in the human rights situation in Abkhazia, Georgia, which is also echoed in the Secretary General’s report. The Abkhazs are continuing to refuse the opening of the Human Rights Office in the Gali District that the UN is trying to achieve for the past four years. The teaching in the native Georgian language is still prohibited. It doesn’t take an international lawyer to qualify such a behaviour as element of genocide, unless this Council can find some other definition.
The so-called customs and border authorities of the Abkhaz separatist regime are functioning without any particular difficulty, and most alarmingly, it is viewed by all as a normal order of business, particularly by the CIS peace-keepers, who are standing side by side with them. The question of the CIS peace-keepers is of most significant concern. Along with the well known problems, which we have continuously tried to bring to the attention of the Council, this fall the CIS PKF managed to outdo itself. Demonstrating utmost disregard to its mandate or any common sense for that matter, CIS PKF conducted illegal searches, detention, interrogation, verbal and physical abuses of civilian Georgian population in the Zugdidi region. Not only the Georgian side was not in advance told about these actions, but they went on despite our protestations, including on the diplomatic level.
The illegal operation of the Russian Military base in Gudauta, Abkhazia, still continues, despite the commitment taken by the Russian Federation to shut it down. The most surprisingly, the base continues to function even after President Putin declared it closed. I would like to remind the Council that the base is operating without the consent of Georgia and in contradiction to international norms. We have demonstrated our flexibility on the issue and are ready now to continue, if the appropriate Russian authorities will ever return to negotiating table.
As we continuously try to alert the Council to the shortcomings in the peace process, we do hope that requisite political will and necessary leadership will be expressed by the membership to address the problems we have highlighted.
Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Sincerely,
Revaz Adamia
Ambassador
Permanent Representative