GEORGIA: USUN PRESSES SECRETARIAT ON UNOMIG REPORT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000491 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/12/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV UNOMIG RS GG SUBJECT: GEORGIA: USUN PRESSES SECRETARIAT ON UNOMIG REPORT REF: SECSTATE 33583 ¶1. (C) SUMMARY AND GUIDANCE REQUEST. Ambassador DiCarlo reinforced with U/SYG for Political Affairs Pascoe on May 8 and May 11, and U/SYG for Peacekeeping Operations Le Roy on May 11, that the U.S. strongly opposes any change to the name of the SYG's Report on the Situation in Abkhazia, Georgia and that the UN should not make a recommendation on the name of the future UN mission in the body of the report. Both Pascoe and Le Roy said they clearly understood the U.S. position, but Pascoe told DiCarlo on May 11 that the SYG might change the name of the report due to strong pressure from Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov. Deputy PolCouns and Poloff reinforced the same points with DPKO Office Director for European and Western Hemisphere Affairs David Harland, who said he would pass on the message but complained that the Secretariat had received conflicting messages on May 11 from USG officials. Harland also said that, per Resolution 1866, the SYG planned to release the report on Friday May 15. The SYG's Deputy Chief of Staff, Kim Won-soo, speculated to Ambassador Wolff on May 12, that the SYG would likely entitle the report, "The Situation in Georgia", but that the report might include reference to "Abkhazia, Georgia" and also could include a reference to South Ossetia. USUN seeks Department concurrence by OOB on May 12 to inform the UN that the U.S. could live with such a formulation, as long as the report content clearly described the situations in Abkhazia, Georgia and South Ossetia, Georgia. END SUMMARY AND GUIDANCE REQUEST. ¶2. (C) Per Reftel instructions, USUN has continuously engaged with the Secretariat on elements of the Secretary-General's report on Abkhazia, Georgia, which the Security Council in Resolution 1866 requested to be released by May 15. Most recently, in response to signals from the Secretariat that the SYG was considering changing the name of the report, Ambassador DiCarlo reinforced with U/SYG for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe on May 8 and May 11, and with U/SYG Alain Le Roy on May 11 that the U.S. was strongly opposed to any change in the name of the Secretary-General's report, as such a change would signal a different understanding of Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Ambassador DiCarlo reminded both Pascoe and Le Roy that the UN had adopted a stance of "status neutrality" in relation to the UN Mission in Kosovo, and should adopt the same stance in relation to the mission in Abkhazia, Georgia. Both U/SYG Pascoe and Le Roy acknowledged that Ambassador DiCarlo's position had been received. U/SYG Pascoe also told DiCarlo, that the matter was in the hands of the SYG, and he was "not optimistic" that the SYG would decide to keep the name of the report as it had been in February (The Situation in Abkhazia, Georgia Pursuant to Resolution 1839). Pascoe said that Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov had raised the issue with the SYG on May 11, and that Lavrov had been "very tough", and had insisted that the name of the report not include either the word "Abkhazia" or "Georgia". ¶3. (C) Ambassador DiCarlo also emphasized that the UN should not/not make any recommendations in the report about a possible new name for the UN mission, as this would also deliver the wrong signal on Georgia's territorial integrity. (We understand that the current draft proposes, "UN Stabilization Mission".) DiCarlo said that the name of the mission was UNOMIG, and the Security Council had not decided to change it. ¶4. (C) Deputy PolCouns and Poloff reinforced the same messages on May 12 with DPKO Director for Europe and Western Hemisphere, David Harland. Harland acknowledged that Ambassador DiCarlo had reinforced the U.S. position, and admitted that there had been some internal confusion about the U.S. position. He showed USUN officers two internal emails that had been received within minutes from each other on May 11, one of which was from U/SYG Le Roy, saying that Ambassador DiCarlo had called to reinforce the U.S. position. The second one was a report from the office of Georgia SRSG Johan Verbeke, saying that the a USG official in Washington had called to convey that the U.S. was prepared to accept, as a compromise title, a reference to resolution 1866 that did not/not include any reference to Abkhazia, Georgia as long as there was a reference to Abkhazia, Georgia in the body of the report. The report from Verbeke emphasized that the USG was still trying to convince the Georgians to accept this position. USUN officers reiterated to Harland that the USG position was the one conveyed by the U.S. Alternate Representative to the UN. ¶5. (C) USUN officers sought to confirm with Harland that the SYG's report would be released after the next Geneva round had been completed, i.e., after May 18, as recommended by EU Special Envoy Morel and SRSG Verbeke. Harland responded that the Secretariat planned to release the report on Friday May USUN NEW Y 00000491 002 OF 002 15, pursuant to Resolution 1866. ¶6. (C) Ambassador Wolff met with the SYG's Deputy Chief of Staff, Kim Won-soo, on May 12 to further reinforce the U.S. position. Kim understood the U.S. position, but he told Ambassador Wolff frankly that the SYG was likely to change the name of the report. Kim asked Wolff to consider whether the U.S. could live with "The Situation in Georgia" if the body of the report were to refer to "Abkhazia, Georgia" and if it were to include a reference to South Ossetia as well. Wolff reiterated the U.S. position that the name of the report should not change, but said he would seek guidance on Kim's suggestion. Kim said the SYG would make a final decision on the name of the report at an internal meeting on Wednesday May 13, and he asked Wolff to get back to him as soon as possible. Kim also said that he did not know whether the report would suggest a new name for UNOMIG, but he thought it would refer to the future mission simply as, "the UN mission", as the last report had done. ¶7. (C) GUIDANCE REQUEST: We believe the SYG will likely issue the report under the name, "The Situation in Georgia" regardless of further intervention on our part. It is therefore important to ensure that the content of the report makes clear that "Georgia" in the report's title refers to the entire territory of Georgia, including Abkhazia and South Ossetia. USUN therefore seeks Department concurrence to reinforce with the SYG's office that we could live with such a title, as long as the substance of the report itself references the situation in "Abkhazia, Georgia" and includes a reference to South Ossetia. USUN requests guidance for OOB on Wednesday May 13. END GUIDANCE REQUEST. Rice