UNOMIG extended, peace process 'deadlocked.' (conflict between Georgia and its small Black Sea region, Abkhazia)

The Security Council, in expressing "deep concern at the continued deadlock in the efforts to achieve a comprehensive settlement" to the conflict in Abkhazia--a small Black Sea region of Georgia--on 12 January extended the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) for another six months, until 12 July 1996, subject to a review of the Mission's mandate "in the event of any changes" that might be made in the mandate of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) peace-keeping force.

By unanimously adopting resolution 1036 (1996), the Council also reaffirmed its full support for the Secretary-General's efforts to achieve such a settlement, "including on the political status of Abkhazia, respecting fully the sovereignty and terrotorial integrity of Georgia", as well as for those of the Russian Federation in its capacity as facilitator, to "intensify the search for a peaceful setlement of the conflict".

The parties--the Government of Georgia and, in particular, the Abkhaz side--were urged to achieve "substantive progress without further delay towards a comprehensive political settlement", and improve their cooperation with UNOMIG and the CIS peace-keeping force in order to provide a "secure environment for the return of refugees and displaced persons".

The Council also demanded that the Abkhaz side "accelerate significantly" the process of voluntary return of those persons by accepting a timetable on the basis of that proposed by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), "guarantee the safety of spontaneous returnees already in the area" and regularize their status in accordance with the 4 April 1994 Quadripartite Agreement.

In that context, the Abkhaz side was called upon to promote, as a first step, the return of refugees and displaced persons to the Gali region in safety and dignity, and "ensure the safety of all persons in areas under its control". The ethnic killings and human rights violations committed in Abkhazia were also condemned.

Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, in recommending (S/1996/5) the extension of UNOMIG, which had been set up in August 1993, also said that the two sides still needed "outside assistance to help them find a lasting solution to their dispute".

In recent months, he went on, despite strenuous efforts by the Russian Federation to draft a protocol acceptable to both parties, aimed at establishing a "basic understanding of principles on which a more detailed agreement could be elaborated"...