UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network / 07 July 2008 -- Recent bombings in Abkhazia have killed four people in Gagra, Sukhumi and Gali and on the border with Georgia and left another sixteen injured. One of these who died in the attack was part of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), a second member was hurt, and the majority of the casualties were noncombatants.

UNOMIG has been operating in the area for the last fifteen years to prevent the divergence between Georgia and Abkhazia from erupting into full violence. It keeps both sides from violating the separation of forces agreement and ceasefire between them.

These bombings come as a UN team headed by Bertrand Ramcharan, former acting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, arrived in the area. Their itinerary includes Tbilisi and Sukhumi , where they will speak with a variety of parties to the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict.

The UN has said that, “The mission will report back to the Secretary-General on key challenges in the UN-led peace process and possible solutions.” The team will also met with the Group of Friends of the Secretary-General, which is made up of France , Germany , Russia , the United Kingdom and the United States .

The violence also comes less than two weeks after the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) indicated that it believed that a Russian fighter jet had been responsible.for a Georgian reconnaissance drone aircraft downed in Abkhazia in April.

Their report argued that, “From a strict peacekeeping perspective…the Mission considers that enforcement action by third-parties – in this case the Russian Federation - in the zone of conflict is fundamentally inconsistent with the Moscow Agreement,” which allows only Commonwealth of Independent States peacekeeping forces to serve to keep Georgia and Abkhazia from clashing.  It also said, however, that under the Moscow Agreement, the Georgian plane should not have been over the area in the first place.

Ban Ki-Moon spoke out against the recent attacks and asked for an inquiry into the bombings to identify those who were behind the casualties. He also invoked the potential consequences for the already tense relations between Georgia and Abkhazia. The Secretary-General urged calm from both sides and called for them to cooperate to reach a solution to their disagreement.  

Labels: United Nations, U.N., MaximsNews

 

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