New York – The United Nations Security Council both adopted a draft bill in an encouraging move towards a peaceful solution of trouble between Abkhazia and Georgia over the territorial totality of Georgia and extended the term of duty of the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia, or UNOMIG, for another six months until April 15, 2008.
UNOMIG was established in 1993 as an organization with 121 military and 12 civilian officials to guarantee compliance with the ceasefire agreement between Georgia and Abkhazia.
The draft bill received on Monday unanimous approval from all the 15 member countries of the UN Security Council. It said that the UN Security Council both backs efforts to solve peacefully the trouble between Abkhazia and Georgia and testifies respect for territorial integrity of Georgia in its independent sovereignty. With its concerns noted about the recently increasing armed incidents in and around Kodor, the UN Security Council expressed support for the Group of Friends in its efforts to guarantee security.
The bill had one-sided references from Tbilisi to a fight in September between Georgian troops and Abkhazian forces that led to the kidnapping of seven soldiers from Abkhazian soil. Tbilisi had it as its argument that Abkhazians were under the direction of Russian commanders when they entered the upper Kodori region. (Agency Caucasus)
