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Alejandro Wolff, US Ambassador to the United Nations, took pleasure in excluding Abkhazia's voice

NEW YORK (Tiraspol Times / Inner City Press) - As the UN Security Council on Tuesday discussed the breakaway republic of Abkhazia, Georgia, the U.S. and Russian Ambassadors traded diplomatic barbs about a man who wasn't there.

The Abkhaz foreign minister Sergei Shamba was refused a visa by the United States, leaving only the Republic of Georgia to speak at the UN Security Council; alone.

On Thursday, a Tiraspol Times' collaborator, New York based journalist Matthew Russell Lee, asked U.S. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff about the host country's previous denial of a visa to Abkhazia's foreign minister.

Amb. Wolff answered, in essence, "we did it because we could."
From the transcript:

Matthew Russell Lee: "On Abkhazia, if the self-styled prime minister of Abkhazia sought to attend, would the host country grant him a visa, at this time?"

Ambassador Wolff: "The issue hasn't come up."

Matthew Russell Lee: "Could you say why in the past the U.S. didn't do it? Ambassador Churkin has said that last time, six months ago, when they met on the extension, that he was not allowed to attend."

Ambassador Wolff: "We have a political process underway through a group called the friends of Georgia, that's focusing on conflict resolution and negotiations with the parties, there are considerations related to that, and all members except the Russian Federation believe that the timing is not appropriate, that it would be counter productive, that it would not contribute to the efforts underway to try to deal with this issue through a conflict resolution process that the Friends are leading."

With Friends like these... The just-issued UN Secretary General's report on Abkhazia mentions a Geneva meeting of the Group of Friends, chaired by UN Peacekeeping's Jean-Marie Guehenno, with the participation of Abkhazia's "de facto Foreign Minister Sergey Shamba." So apparently, this "de facto" foreign minister can attended UN-chaired meetings in Geneva, but cannot enter the United States. At least not at this time.

For the record, the mandate of the UN's Mission to Georgia is set to expire on April 15, so a vote to extend it is expected on Friday, April 13.

Recognition of independence "logical conclusion"

With Abkhazia's foreign minister Sergei Shamba unable to participate, due to the refusal of a U.S. visa, he was instead forced to "appear" only by written text and, it was said, a compact disc that would be given to all Council members.

The final line on the compact disc is that "the recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and other republics such as South Ossetia and Transdniestria would be a logical conclusion of this process."

Amb. Wolff said that Russian Ambassador Churkin was being "mischievous" and making "theater," by ignoring speakers in chamber and walking out of the Council.

Amb. Churkin laughed when told of this characterization. "I have to be very careful walking around this building," he said, recounting that he merely left to deliver a speech in the First Committee of the General Assembly, about disarmament, pursuant to Russia's "important political and intellectual role" on the issue.

U.S. Ambassador Wolff disputed Russia's analogy between Abkhazia and Kosovo.
Amb. Churkin had said, "Imagine the Security Council considering Kosovo while only hearing from the Serbian side."

Last week, Kosovo's representatives were allowed to present the Kosovar position directly to the UN Security Council, in a so-called Arria style proceeding.

A U.S. official who asked to be identified as such explained that the U.S. visa had been denied to the so-called Foreign Minister of Abkhazia without violating the U.S.'s obligations as UN host country. "Abkhazia is not a country," he said.

By this definition, Kosovo is not a country either.

Some wonder: what is the distinction in barring the Abkhaz side, other than the foreign policy of the host country, the United States?

Regarding Kosovo, in response to a question of whether the U.S. believes that international law permits the Security Council to grant independence to a part of a previously sovereign country, Amb. Wolff said that the Security Council is international law. This is a statement that will need some follow-up.

See also:
» US blocks Abkhazia from UN talks on its own future [1]

On the web:
» Abkhazia's written address to UN Security Council which could not be delivered in person [2]