SECURITY COUNCIL CONSULTS ON GEORGIA RESOLUTION

New York, Feb 10 2009  7:10PM
The Security Council today held consultations on a draft resolution on the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) whose mandate expires at the weekend, with the Council president voicing confidence that a new resolution would be adopted by then.

“I am very confident that the formal adoption will be taking place before the end of the week,” Ambassador Yukio Takasu of Japan, Council President for February, told reporters afterwards.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Council last week that <"http://www.un.org/Depts/dpko/missions/unomig/">UNOMIG, which has been patrolling both sides of the ceasefire line between the Georgian Government and Abkhaz separatists in the country’s north-west since the end of fighting there 15 years ago, is in a “precarious” position which could quickly become untenable.

“There have been a considerable number of security incidents involving casualties on both sides and what little communication there was between the sides has largely broken down,” he said in a report, warning that “a further deterioration of the situation cannot be excluded.”

On the Abkhaz-controlled side of the ceasefire line, Russian troops have taken over positions previously held by the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) peacekeeping forces, on which UNOMIG relied for security. Abkhaz heavy weapons and military personnel have entered the zone of conflict, he wrote.

For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news