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At UN, Georgian Theater
Continues, Without Abkhaz and Ossetians for Now
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, August 28 -- In
the wake of Russia's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the UN
Security
Council resumed its Georgian theater on Thursday. Members convened at
11 a.m.
to discuss the format for yet another meeting. A bone of contention was
Russia's request that representatives of South Ossetia and Abkhazia be
allowed
to participate. Last week, U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative
Alejandro Wolff
told Inner City Press that this participation would be inappropriate at
this
time; he referred to statements by South Ossetia's leadership which he
said
were in essence calls for ethnic cleansing.
Thursday just outside the Security
Council chamber, Amb. Wolff said that the U.S. has not denied any visa
requests, that he understands that visas have been applied for in
Moscow. So there are no violations of the
U.S.'s
responsibilities as host country of the UN? We comply with our
responsibilities
as host, Wolff said. Echoing last week's
interchange, Inner City Press asked, "Scrupulously?" Wolff laughed
and nodded. But the point for now is
moot: as Western diplomats emphasized after Thursday morning's meeting,
there
was no majority for South Ossetian and Abkhaz participation. They emphasized, apparently with glee, that
the Chinese delegation had not said anything in the consultations.
Russia's Churkin at UN, Abkhaz and South
Ossetians not shown
As to what text the Council is considering, a
Western diplomat said it
is a hybrid based on the Russian proposal which was finalized and "put
into blue" last week. The Russians included only the six points of the
so-called Sarkozy Agreement. To this, the Westerners propose adding references to Sarkozy's after-arising
clarifications, to the international mechanism which would end Russia's
temporary security measures, and most importantly -- and sure to draw a
veto --
to the territorial integrity of Georgia. Now that Russia has recognized
the
declarations of independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, it is hard
to see
how they could accept that phrase in a resolution. Unless they are
allowed to
interpret it as referring to the integrity of what is left of Georgia,
minus South
Ossetia and Abkhazia. The Council will re-convene at 3.
Watch
this
site. And this (on
South Ossetia),
this, on
Russia-Georgia,
and
this --
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