Ban Ki-moon urges stronger Georgian-Abkhaz cooperation

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for the Government and Abkhaz sides in Georgia to bolster cooperation on security, economic and humanitarian issues.

In a new report to the Security Council made public today, Mr. Ban says both sides “must now take concrete steps to implement the understandings” reached at a meeting last month of the “Group of Friends” on Georgia.

The two-day meeting in Bonn, Germany, was attended by senior representatives of the Group of Friends – which comprises France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States – as well as the Georgian and Abkhaz sides and the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Georgia, Jean Arnault.

Fighting in the country 14 years ago drove nearly 300,000 people from their homes.

Mr. Ban pledged the support of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) in facilitating all of the confidence-building agreements made at the Bonn meeting.

Furthermore, the Secretary-General noted the need for both parties to “redouble their efforts to avoid action that could lead to a renewal of hostilities.”

Although the situation around a patriotic youth camp in Ganmukhuri is calm, UNOMIG has detected heightened activity on both sides of the ceasefire line near the camp.

“In order to reduce the possibility of incidents, the United Nations joins the Group of Friends in calling on the Government of Georgia to move the camp away from the security zone,” Mr. Ban said, noting that cultural activities “should be carried out in a manner that does not allow for misunderstanding, miscalculation and subsequent violence.”

Additionally, both sides must avoid potentially critical situations arising from armed personnel deployment, he said, urging them to “stay away from one another.”

“A separation of opposing forces is the primary and often the most effective guarantee of the preservation of peace,” he added.

UNOMIG was established in August 1993 to verify compliance with the ceasefire agreement between the Government of Georgia and the Abkhaz authorities in Georgia. Its mandate was expanded following the signing by the parties of the 1994 Agreement on a Ceasefire and Separation of Forces.

In an April resolution, the Council voted unanimously to extend UNOMIG’s mandate by six months until October.