S/PV.3398 Security Council

The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. The Security Council is meeting in accordance with the understanding reached in its prior consultations. Members of the Council have before them the report of the Secretary-General concerning the situation in Abkhazia, Georgia - document S/1994/725. Members of the Council also have before them document S/1994/781, which contains the text of a draft resolution prepared in the course of the Council’s prior consultations. I should like to draw the attention of the members of the Council to document S/1994/732, which contains the text of a letter dated 21 June 1994 from the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General, transmitting the text of a letter of the same date from the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation addressed to the Secretary-General. It is my understanding that the Council is ready to proceed to the vote on the draft resolution before it in document S/1994/781. If I hear no objection, I shall put the draft resolution to the vote now. There being no objection, it is so decided.

My delegation is particularly satisfied that our Council was able to adopt today a resolution extending the mandate of the United Nations Observer Mission in Abkhazia (Republic of Georgia) within the limits of the strength authorized by previous resolutions, for a period ending on 21 July 1994. This extension should enable the members of the Council, in the light of the information and recommendations that will be transmitted to us by the Secretary-General in his next report, to adopt within this period a resolution on the expansion and strengthening of UNOMIG. It is in fact necessary that, together with the deployment of the force of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) requested by the parties to maintain the cease-fire in Abkhazia (Republic of Georgia) and to facilitate the return of refugees and displaced persons, a new mandate be rapidly entrusted to UNOMIG to verify all aspects of the implementation of the agreement of 14 May 1994. The Council will not be able to adopt a resolution to that effect until the Observer Mission and the CIS force have concluded the necessary arrangements concerning the coordination of their activities and until the parties have given the assurances that will guarantee full freedom of movement. My delegation expresses the hope that these conditions will be speedily fulfilled.

The Russian delegation supported the draft resolution on the extension of the mandate of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) on the basis of our consistent position of support for the active participation of the United Nations in the settlement of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict. We also attach importance to the fact that the resolution focuses on the cooperation between UNOMIG and the CIS peace- making forces in the conflict zone. As is known, the members of the Commonwealth of Independent States, acting on the basis of the provisions In our opinion, an important part of the resolution is without any doubt the positive attitude it reflects on the part of the Security Council towards the peace-making operations of the CIS, which have already begun. We have already said repeatedly that such support is necessary for everyone, and first and foremost for the Georgian and Abkhazian parties, which must understand that the international community cannot be indifferent to their fate. Once again, I wish to say that deploying a peacemaking operation in the Abkhaz conflict zone was not of our choosing. Georgia, Russia and the other States of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) were forced into it by the dangerous way in which the situation was developing, threatening further bloodshed, and by the absence over a period of several months of a positive response to the numerous requests by Georgia and Russia for the urgent dispatch to the conflict zone of a United Nations peace-keeping force. The Security Council must not delay adopting a "substantive" resolution - the need for which no one doubts. At the same time, I must say frankly that we are not fully satisfied today. I shall not conceal that we counted on much greater support and understanding from our Security Council partners with respect to the peacemaking operation in Abkhazia. We feel there is no room in the Security Council for a double standard in approaching peacemaking operations. We expect the Security Council to provide no less genuine support for efforts to maintain peace in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone than it does with regard to conflicts in other areas and on other continents.

My delegation asked to speak in order to outline the reasons that led it, with some reluctance, to vote in favour of the resolution on the extension of the mandate of the United Nations First of all, my delegation believes that the resolution is a purely technical one, and that as such it should have contained only provisions relating to the extension of the mandate of UNOMIG and references to the technical aspects of that Mission. Secondly, my delegation also believes that the new element in the resolution, introduced originally by the Russian Federation, runs counter to the general understanding in the Security Council that the Council would be in a position to consider and pass judgement on the peace-keeping operation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Abkhazia, Georgia, only after it had received and deliberated upon the Secretary- General’s substantive report on UNOMIG. That report, for which we asked the Secretary-General in a letter dated 16 June 1994 from the President of the Security Council (S/1994/714), should be available shortly and should address a number of important, and so far unclear, aspects of the peace-keeping operation in Abkhazia, Georgia, including the vital issue of coordination and cooperation between UNOMIG and the CIS peace-keeping forces. Thirdly, we do not share the view held by some that the Council can, without due consideration and almost automatically, endorse or give its blessing to a peace- keeping operation without having all the facts available to it. We also consider it difficult to agree to the notion that different peace-keeping missions can be compared or that there exists an automatic linkage between them. In our view, each peace-keeping operation or mission is unique and has its own specifics. Only after we carefully examine and consider all aspects, both technical and political, can we reach a definitive and responsible opinion on the form and substance of the Council’s reaction. We believe that we will not reach that point with regard to the CIS operation in Abkhazia, Georgia, until we have had the opportunity to study in depth the awaited report of the Secretary-General. I would like to underline that our position on this issue is not new and should be no surprise to any delegation around this table. During previous deliberations in the Security Council, both in formal meetings and in informal consultations, my delegation has several times voiced its strong preference for a classic United Nations peace-keeping operation in Abkhazia, At the same time, my delegation has several times expressed its concern about the fact that many aspects of the CIS peace-keeping operation, including coordination and interaction with UNOMIG, have remained unclear and hazy. My delegation is fully aware of the latest developments in Abkhazia, Georgia, and of the fact that the CIS peace-keeping operation is actually under way. In fact, my delegation was ready to reflect these developments in an appropriate fashion in the resolution we have just adopted.

There are no further speakers. The Security Council has thus concluded the present stage of its consideration of the item on its agenda.