"We Urge Russia not to follow this path" - US ambassador to the UN Khalilzad
We are pleased with today’s adoption of the UNOMIG resolution; in particular its call for the safe and swift return of refugees and internally displaced persons in Abkhazia.
Beyond this resolution, the US strongly welcomes the new initiatives put forward by the Georgian president to advance a negotiated political resolution of the Abkhazia conflict.
We urge the de facto authorities in Abkhazia to seriously consider these initiatives, as well as the previous offers for economic cooperation proposed in Geneva earlier this year.
As we have previously stated, we regret the Russian decision to withdraw unilaterally from the 1996 Commonwealth of Independent States decision to impose economic and military sanctions on Abkhazia. We believe this will raise new concerns about military transparency in the region, and thereby set back the peace process.
We are deeply concerned by reports from Moscow that Russia is planning on establishing semi-official representative missions in Abkhazia and South Ossetia without the approval of Georgian government.
We urge Russia not to follow this path which would undercut Russia’s stated support for the principles of Georgian sovereignty and territorial integrity as contained in today’s resolution and run counter to Russia status as a facilitator of the peace process. Instead, we hope Russia will build on its recently improved relations with Georgia to advance the peace process.
Reporter: Ambassador, do you see this as sort of a natural follow-on from Kosovo independence?
Ambassador: I think you’ve heard us say repeatedly that the situation with regard to Kosovo was a unique one; that Kosovo—the result of a war—had come under UN administration and that the resolution governing that status specified that the final status would be determined of Kosovo. That many efforts would be made to get a compromise, an agreement between the parties. The UN, Mr. Ahtisaari proposed a plan, a compromise that was not allowed to go forward by principally one state and as a result of which, we are where we are.
But we think that was a unique set of circumstances that has no implications for other places.
Reporter: Will you use the occasion of tomorrow’s meeting with African leaders to raise the issue of Zimbabwe’s election, what’s going on there, calling on them to pressure Zimbabwe, really initiating the Security Council to get involved in this decision.
Ambassador: Well it would be surprising that we will have a meeting on Africa, in which quite a number of African leaders will be there, and not talk about the most important issue, the most urgent issue on that continent being Zimbabwe. So yes, we will raise the Zimbabwe issue.
Reporter: Ambassador, why it took you that much of discussion to adopt this presidential statement [sic]. How will you evaluate implementation of 1701?
Ambassador: Well, of course negotiations involving a number of different countries both inside and outside the Council and that can take time. But I think what we have is a good, acceptable PRST that has been agreed to. With regard to the implementation, I think there are plusses and minuses there. You’ve heard me say before that we would like to see more progress on disarming militias that we would like to see a number of other steps. So there are plusses and minuses on the implementation front.
Thank you
Reporter: (off mic)
Ambassador: With the tribunal, you’ve heard me say repeatedly that significant progress has been made. Thank you.
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