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Friday,
July 27,
2007, #142 (1409) Secretary General Ban Ki- moon’s report to the UN Security Council released on July 23 expressed disappointment that dialogue between the Georgian and Abkhaz side had remained suspended. He calls on both the Georgian and Abkhaz sides to “redouble efforts to avoid action that could lead to a renewal of hostilities.” In the report, he criticized Georgia’s decision to host a patriot camp for youth one km away from the Abkhaz border and said it should be moved. Some believe Ban’s brief stop over in Tbilisi on June 29 was related to his concern about the camp but he made no comments during his visit. In his report he says, “I urge the two sides 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,” the report reads. Many Georgian officials dismissed the report including parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee chair Kote Gabashvili. He said Russia has heavy influence in the UN and had a hand in the report. He said the timing of its release was also no coincidence. “All this is written under Russia’s influence…There is no need to devote excessive attention to a routine, intermediary report. It was Russia’s attempt to discredit Georgia before the UN discusses the UNOMIG report on the March 11 Kodori Gorge shelling this Thursday,” Gabashvili reasoned. Despite Ban’s recommendations four days earlier to be careful about escalating tensions, Georgia attacked Russia in a press conference following the closed door discussion of the March 11 Kodori shelling report in the UN. Georgia’s representative to the UN Irakli Alasania called the March 11 attack on the Kodori Gorge an “act of war” demanding a thorough investigation until all unanswered questions had been answered. He accused Russia of not cooperating in the investigation. “Russians withheld some information, which was very crucial for a successful investigative report,” Alasania said. In particular he said Russia had not provided air traffic control records and had not responded to a request to trace serial numbers found on rocket fragments in order to find out the origin of the rocket. He said if Russia continues to withhold information crucial to the investigation, “Georgia will deem impossible the future participation of the Russian side as main facilitator in the conflict zone,” Civil Georgia quotes Alasania as saying during the press conference in New York. Newly-appointed State Minister for Conflict Resolution Davit Bakradze supported the UN representative’s comments from Kodori saying Tbilisi would demand Russia’s withdrawal from the UN Group of Friends (comprised of representatives from Germany, the US, Britain, France and Russia) if they remained uncooperative. In earlier reactions to the Kodori shelling report, Georgian officials comments were reserved even calling the report a “diplomatic victory” for Tbilisi. After Russia’s strong reaction to the report and irrational comments implying an attack on Georgia’s territory mostly benefits Georgia, Speaker of Parliament Nino Burjanadze said on July 18 that this only served to implicate itself, “With this statement Russia has only confirmed our doubts.” More than likely the target audience of Georgia’s press conference in New York wasn’t so much Russia as it was the international community. It was a stunt similar to what Russia might have pulled—hard talk on the international stage against your competitor in an attempt to appear strong while behind the scenes you might have friendlier relations. It was in the national interests of Georgia to discredit Russia’s role as peacekeeper in the Abkhazian conflict zone and they had to play this hand. Russia perhaps better than anyone understands the “attack” and even may respect it. |
Georgia Putin-esque Politics 