Abkhazia and South Ossetia reject Georgia's refugee resolution

[News_Editor]

Abkhazia and South Ossetia reject Georgia's refugee resolution

2011-06-08 21:50:28 GMT+7 (ICT)

SUKHUMI, ABKHAZIA (BNO NEWS) -- Abkhazia and South Ossetia on Wednesday rejected the Georgia sponsored draft resolution recognizing the rights of refugees from the Georgian breakaway regions, RIA Novosti reported.

The United Nations draft resolution recognizes the rights of the refugees to return to their homes. Abkhazia said that the document was a Georgian attempt to reassert its claim on the self-proclaimed independent states.

"The draft resolution ignores the current political realities, in particular the fact that South Ossetia and Abkhazia are independent states," said Vyacheslav Chirikba, Abkhazia's presidential envoy.

In September, the UN General Assembly approved the "Status of the Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees from Abkhazia, Georgia and the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, Georgia."

The announcement came as Abkhazian Members of the Parliament (MEPs) unanimously decided to hold early presidential elections on August 26. The last president, Segey Bagapsh, died last May 29 after a surgery in Moscow.

On April 1, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, rejected Georgia's ethnic cleansing case in South Ossetia against Russia.

Georgia claims that Russian forces and allies killed thousands of ethnic Georgians in Abkhazia and South Ossetia in over two decades. This culminated with a five-day war in August 2008 between Russia and the former Soviet Union state.

Hundreds of Russian, Georgian, South Ossetian and Abkhazian soldiers were killed during the violent conflict, as well as over 160 civilians. Russia recognized South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states two weeks after the conflict.

Georgian forces had attacked South Ossetia in a failed attempt to bring it back under central control, after which Russia deployed its troops to protect the disputed area. There has no been any Georgia-Russia diplomatic relations since.

According to Amnesty International, 246,000 of Georgia's population (about 6 percent) were displaced in the two decades of conflict. An estimated 220,000 residents left Georgia during the conflicts in the early 1990s.

In addition, about 128,000 people fled South Ossetia and Abkhazia during and after the August 2008 Georgia-Russia war. Most of them have since retuned home but approximately 26,000 people are still unable to return.

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