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Wednesday,
August 1,
2007, #145 (1412) Yesterday marked Georgia's 15th year of UN membership. When the country joined amid the first clashes in Abkhazia, Shevardnadze's administration promised a panacea. The UN would protect a weak Georgia, lift Russian pressure, promote justice, support Georgia's territorial integrity, and provide a host of other desperately needed assurances. Georgians initially embraced the UN, seeing a palliative to the devastating loss of Abkhazia. This enthusiasm later waned as repeated UN Security Council resolutions yielded few results. Regard for the institution has fallen so precipitously that some Georgian analysts and politicians see conspiracy in the UN. "Was Ban Ki-Moon bribed?" asked the newspaper Alia, writing about the UN Secretary-General's July 26 report on Abkhazia. The outcry stemmed from the recommendation to close the Georgian youth 'patriot' camp in Ganmukhuri, a village mere kilometers from the dividing line with Abkhazia. "A separation of opposing forces is the primary and often the most effective guarantee of the preservation of peace," the report reminded. Speaker of Parliament Nino Burjanadze said Ban was misled, and surely didn't have all the facts on the youth camp (which she visited as the UN report was released). Making a fuss over a little camp for teens was an odd choice, she said, given the 300 000 IDPs waiting to return to their homes in Abkhazia. Opposition politicians were less diplomatic. "The patriot camp in Ganmukhuri was legally opened, and doesn't violate any agreement. Ban Ki-moon worries about this too much. The fact is, none of the IDPs have been returned to Abkhazia yet with UN support," said MP Zviad Dzidziguri of the Conservative Party. Nor were all Georgians thrilled with the UNOMIG report on the rocket attack in upper Kodori Gorge on March 11, released a couple of weeks before the Secretary-General's paper. While implying that Russian helicopters were likely culprits in the attack, the quadripartite investigative group did not go so far as to point steady fingers, saying the evidence was ultimately inconclusive. Some local media interpreted the report's conclusion, or lack thereof, as a perverse verdict in a seemingly clear-cut case of Russian aggression. "[According to the report] the bombing could have been carried out by the Russian, Abkhazian or Georgian sides. The rockets could have or could not have been fired from land…," wrote the newspaper Kvela Siakhle. In a closed-door Security Council meeting, Georgia went after Russia-which tried to avoid meeting at all with Tbilisi's UN envoy, Irakli Alasania-for allegedly hiding crucial evidence from investigators, and insisted on a redo. "The March 11 bombing was a deliberate provocation directed against regional security that aimed to involve the Georgian and Abkhaz sides in a military confrontation, and the Security Council should adequately evaluate it. We exposed the Russian side as hiding very important materials from the investigation, and we demanded the reinvestigation of the incident," Alasania later said, according to 24 Saati. Government representatives
say they have no plans to move the Ganmukhuri patriot camp, while opposition
politicians say the slight turnaround on Abkhazia in the UN is a defeat
for Tbilisi. The patriot camp is the least of Georgia's worries, said the Green Party leader; he fears that Russia, using the UN as cover, will reassert control in upper Kodori. The growing mistrust
in the UN is disquieting, but justified. Russia's bargaining power is
holding back the UN from doing everything it should in conflict resolution,
and Georgians know it. If the organization that once held out such great
hope for Georgia wants to fulfill those promises, it needs to first
work towards earning back Georgia's trust.
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UN myth ends
for Georgians?