Security Council Renews UN Observer Mission in Georgia for Four Months

The Security Council today extended for another four months the 14-year-old United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) entrusted with overseeing the ceasefire accord between the Government and Abkhaz separatists in the country's north-western region. The unanimous decision complies with a request earlier this week from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who warned that "dramatic changes" due to the Russian-Georgian conflict in South Ossetia had cast a veil of uncertainty over UNOMIG's future function. He told the 15-member Council in his latest report that it was not yet known which features, if any, of the 1994 Moscow ceasefire agreement between the warring parties that forms the basis of the Mission's observation mandate would be retained in light of the new situation. UNOMIG's area of responsibility in Abkhazia... [read full story]