Abkhaz

The General Assembly today adopted a resolution in which it recognized the right of return of all refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), regardless of their ethnicity, to Abkhazia, Georgia.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has urged both Georgia’s Government and Abkhaz separatists to implement understandings reached during a high-level meeting in February and to honour previous commitments, particularly regarding security and human rights, to resolve a conflict that flared into open warfare 14 years ago and forced nearly 300,000 refugees to flee their homes.

With peace talks between the Georgia Government and Abkhaz separatists restarted, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has voiced hope that both sides will be able to agree to a non-resumption of hostilities and the safe return of internally displaced persons and refugees.

While the resumption of the United Nations-led Georgian-Abkhaz peace process is encouraging, only "genuine commitment" by both sides will lead to a lasting political settlement to the hostilities between Government and separatist forces in northwest Georgia, which uprooted nearly 300,000 refugees more than a decade ago, Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in his latest report.

Citing a "regrettable" lack of progress in jumpstarting negotiations between the Georgian and Abkhaz sides, Secretary-General Kofi Annan has recommended that the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) be extended six months, until 31 January 2003.

The Georgian-Abkhaz conflict must not be allowed to simmer, Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in a new report to the Security Council, urging both sides to hold talks aimed at resolving their fundamental differences.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) through 31 July, while urging the parties to the conflict in Abkhazia, Georgia, to engage in talks on a new negotiating document.

The United Nations Security Council this evening strongly condemned today's attack against a helicopter of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), which resulted in the death of the nine people on board.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan was "shocked" to learn of the reported shooting down of a UN helicopter carrying nine passengers and crew in the western part of the Kodori Valley in Georgia, his spokesman said today.