ABKHAZIA: UN BASE ESTABLISHED IN UPPER KODORI

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TBILISI 002090

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR DAS BRYZA AND EUR/CARC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/21/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM GG
SUBJECT: ABKHAZIA: UN BASE ESTABLISHED IN UPPER KODORI
VALLEY

REF: A. TBILISI 1604


B. TBILISI 2043

Classified By: CHARGE D'AFFAIRES MARK X. PERRY. REASONS:
1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (C) Summary: On August 16, the UN Special Representative
of the Secretary General (SRSG) Jean Arnault and the Chief of
the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) General Khattak
provided the Friends of the Secretary General (FSG) an update
on the situation in Abkhazia, following the Geneva-style
meeting in Bonn (reftel A.) On the Upper Kodori Valley,
Khattak said that the UN had now set up a permanent base in
the village of Azhara. On the Sigua case, Khattak reported
that the first meeting of the Joint Fact Finding Group was
August 6 and a follow-on meeting is scheduled for August 21.
On the patriotic camp in Ganmukhuri, Khattak relayed
continued Abkhaz concerns but said there were no reports of
military activities at the camp, which he believed would be
closed by October. On resumption of the Quadripartite
Meetings (QPM),Arnault said the UN expected a positive
response soon from the Georgians to the new format proposed
by the UN. End summary.


2. (C) On August 16, UN SRSG Arnault and UNOMIG General
Khattak briefed the FSG on the situation in Abkhazia as a
follow-up to the Geneva-style meeting in Bonn. German
Ambassador Flor, British Ambassador Keefe, French Ambassador
Fournier, U.S. Charge Perry and Russian Third Secretary
Kurenkov participated on behalf of the Friends.

UPPER KODORI: UN BASE ESTABLISHED, NEED TO SEPARATE FORCES
-------------- --------------


3. (C) Khattak began with a briefing on the situation in the
Upper Kodori Valley (UKV). He said the UN had established a
team base in the village of Azhara, although it was too newly
established to provide an assessment of the security
situation. He expressed some concern over the strength of
the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MOIA) presence in the UKV,
which he assessed to be more than the 576 officers declared
by the Georgians based on log books maintained by UNOMIG
checkpoint 302. He noted a Georgian report of five
helicopters observed on the evening of August 5, which the UN
is investigating, and the UN report of helicopters seen above
UKV on August 11, which he said were the President's escort
helicopters scrambled in response to a morning incident in
which Russian planes were spotted on the hills above the UKV
(in Russian territory) on the same day as the President's
visit. The most important issue, Khattak underscored, is
creating a line to separate the forces in UKV, as the Moscow
Agreement is unclear on this point.


4. (C) Khattak reviewed two complaints by the Georgians over
checkpoints in Abkhazia. He said Georgia registered a
complaint about CIS Peacekeeping Force (PKF) checkpoint 302,
which is on the main access road to the UKV. Following an
incident on July 28 involving a near confrontation between
the PKF and a senior Georgian official, the Georgians
complained that they had not been consulted on the
establishment of the checkpoint and that the checkpoint did
not have the right to inspect vehicles. Khattak said that
the checkpoint had been established in 1995 and had been
making inspections since Georgia retook control of the UKV in

2006. He made a case for the importance of this checkpoint
as well as two others (307 and 107) for monitoring what goes
into the UKV. Khattak said that following a meeting between
the head of the PKF and the Georgian Ministry of Defense, the
sides agreed that the checkpoint would inspect MIOA vehicles
but not civilian traffic.


5. (C) Separately, Khattak said Georgia registered a
complaint about CIS PKF checkpoint 107 A, which is on the
southern side of the de facto line of demarcation between
Upper and Lower Kodori at broken bridge. He said that 107 A
was established as an outpost of checkpoint 107 following
Georgia's retake of the UKV in July 2006. Following the
calming of tensions after the operation, the UN withdrew this
position but re-established it on August 6. Khattak
characterized the outpost, which has line of sight into the
UKV, as an appropriate step by PKF commander Chaban. Khattak
also briefed on a planned exercise by the Abkhaz militia
August 20-24 which the Abkhaz said would include 6,000
forces. Khattak said the Abkhaz assured the UN that there
would be no large exercises and said that UNOMIG had never
seen a mobilization of more than 2-3,000 forces. He said
UNOMIG would monitor the exercises.

SIGUA: INVESTIGATION STARTED, SO FAR, SO GOOD
-------------- -

TBILISI 00002090 002 OF 002




6. (C) Khattak said the Joint Fact Finding Group's first
meeting, which he chaired, on the investigation into the
disappearance of David Sigua, an ethnic Georgian who worked
in the de fact administration, took place on August 6. Mrs.
Sigua and another relative were presented as witnesses. He
said the JFFG has not been able to establish a motive in the
case. He characterized the first meeting as professional and
said that the next would take place on August 21 and would
examine the alleged escape route and talk to Abkhaz militia
who reportedly pursued Sigua's captors.

PATRIOT CAMP: NO EVIDENCE OF MILITARY ACTIVITY
-------------- --


7. (C) Khattak reported continued Abkhaz concerns over the
Georgian patriot camp at Ganmukhuri, near the Abkhaz-Georgian
ceasefire line. The Abkhaz claim that foreign youth from
GUAM countries are participating in the camp, although the UN
could not confirm this. He said 250-300 youth are
participating in cultural activities and there are no reports
of any military activities being conducted in the camp.
Khattak assessed that there is a decrease in posturing on
both sides over the camp and believed that the camp would be
closed by October.

QPMS: GEORGIANS EXPECTED TO RESPOND POSITIVELY TO UN FORMAT
-------------- --------------


8. (C) On the resumption of the QPMs, Arnault said that the
UN is expecting a positive response from the Georgians soon.
The issue is with State Minister for Conflict Resolution
Bakradze, whom he characterized as a good change because of
his closeness to the President and his credibility within the
ruling party. German Ambassador Flor said she raised this
with Bakradze, who said the issue was now before an
inter-ministerial meeting including the MOIA and MOD. He was
aware the UN is owed an answer and noted that there are only
small issues of concern such as whether the meetings could
alternate between Zugdidi and Gali. British Ambassador Keefe
said he heard the same from Bakradze.

CBMS: IMPORTANT POINT OF CONTINUED FOCUS
--------------


9. (C) Flor urged continued focus on the confidence building
measures from the Bonn meeting, including a link with the
Turkish diaspora, the opening of the port, and the return of
internally displaced persons (IDPs.) Arnault responded that
the Georgian approach to the IDP issue has been ideological,
demanding a return to all of Abkhazia without preconditions.
He said a more measured, slower approach set out in a 2001
declaration supporting a return to Gali in the first instance
has been abandoned by the Georgian side. He argued for the
Georgians to adopt a practical solution and suggested one way
for the Friends to help would be to ask the Georgians to come
up with a realistic IDP strategy.

COMMENT
--------------


10. (C) This meeting, which included Arnault, was a much more
positive assessment of the situation than the one led by his
deputy, Ivo Petrov, just two weeks before (reftel B). Still,
Khattak -- and by extension the UN's -- focus on the
intricacies of checkpoints is at the heart of the complaints
by the Georgians. This issue is important and we will urge
them to respond quickly and positively to the proposed format
for the resumption of the QPMs, but at the same time, we need
to press the UN to raise its sights to focus on the more
strategic aspects of conflict resolution, including the
return of IDPs and movement toward a political solution that
resolves the conflict within Georgia. We believe that absent
some movement on the strategic front, it will become harder
and harder to get Georgia to agree to confidence building
measures as Georgia moves closer to Presidential and
Parliamentary elections in 2008. End comment.
PERRY