Russia on Monday vetoed an extension of the mandate of the UN mission in Georgia, effectively ending its activities, citing opposition to Georgian sovereignty over the rebel enclave of Abkhazia.
Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin cast his veto during a Security Council vote on a draft sponsored by Western countries that called for a two-week extension of the mandate and indirectly reaffirmed the council’s commitment to Georgia’s territorial integrity.
Ten of the council’s 15 members voted in favor while four — China, Libya, Uganda and Vietnam — abstained.
With the Russian veto, the UN mission in Georgia ended at midnight on Monday. The mission has been tasked with monitoring the conflict between Georgia and the breakaway enclave of Abkhazia.
The force — 131 military observers and 20 policemen — was created in 1993 to oversee a ceasefire accord between the Georgian government and Abkhaz separatist authorities.
The draft, sponsored by Austria, Croatia, France, Germany, Turkey, Britain and the US, was meant to extend the status quo for two weeks to allow more time for negotiations with Russia over the fate of the mission and a new security regime for Abkhazia.
Explaining the reason for his veto, Churkin said the text was “clearly unacceptable” as it would be “denying the existence of Abkhazia as a state.”
He said Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili “put an end to the sovereignty of his own country” over Abkhazia by sending his troops into breakway South Ossetia last August.
French UN Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert voiced hope that “all parties that have forces on the ground, including Russia, will exert maximum restraint, will abide by commitments” signed with the EU last year “and do what is necessary to protect the civilian population.”
Speaking before the vote, Britain’s deputy UN ambassador Philip Parham said that once the UN mission ceased to exist, the EU would have to look at how its monitoring mission on the ground in Georgia “will help ensure there is not a return to conflict.”
In February, the Security Council voted unanimously to extend the mandate of the UN mission for four months pending security arrangements in Abkhazia to be worked out by Moscow and Tbilisi.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not