RESOLUTION
1311 (28 JULY 2000) ADOPTED BY THE
UN SECURITY COUNCIL
The Security Council,
Recalling all its relevant resolutions, in
particular resolution 1287 (2000) of 31 January 2000, and the statement of its
President of 11 May 2000 (S/PRST/2000/16),
as well as resolution 1308 (2000) of 17 July 2000, Having
considered the report of the Secretary-General of 21 July 2000 (S/2000/697),
Recalling the conclusions of the Lisbon
(S/1997/57, annex) and Istanbul summits of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) regarding the situation in Abkhazia, Georgia, Stressing
that the lack of progress on key issues of a comprehensive settlement of the
conflict in Abkhazia, Georgia, is unacceptable,
Recalling that, according to its statute, the Coordinating Council of the
Georgian and Abkhaz sides should
meet every two months, and welcoming, in this regard, the resumption of its
work, Welcoming the results of the tenth session of the Coordinating Council in
Sukhumi on 11 July
Recalling the relevant principles contained in the
Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel adopted on
9 December 1994,
Welcoming the important contributions that the
United Nations Observer stabilizing the situation in the zone of conflict, noting
that the working relationship between UNOMIG and the CIS peacekeeping force has
been excellent at all levels, stressing the importance of continuing and
increasing close cooperation and coordination between them in the performance
of their respective mandates, and welcoming also the decision on the extension
of the stay of the CIS peacekeeping force in the conflict zone in Abkhazia,
Georgia, adopted by the Council of Heads of State of the Commonwealth of
Independent States on 21 June 2000 (S/2000/629),
1. Welcomes the report of
the Secretary-General of 21 July 2000;
2. Strongly supports the sustained efforts of the
Secretary-General and his Special Representative, with the assistance of the
Russian Federation in its capacity as facilitator as well as of the Group of
Friends of the Secretary-General and of the OSCE, to promote the stabilization
of the situation and the achievement of a comprehensive political settlement,
which includes a settlement on the political status of Abkhazia within the
State of Georgia;
3. Strongly supports, also, the efforts of the
Special Representative on the question of the distribution of competences
between Tbilisi and Sukhumi, and, in particular, his
intention to submit, in the near future, proposals to the parties as a basis
for meaningful negotiations on that issue;
4. Underlines the responsibility of the parties to
the conflict to engage in negotiations on the key outstanding issues in the
United Nations-led peace process, including on the distribution of competences
between
5. Welcomes the commitment of the parties not to
use force for the resolution of any disputed questions, which must be addressed
through negotiations and by peaceful means only, and to refrain from propaganda
aimed at the solution of the conflict by force;
6. Calls on the parties to the conflict, also, to
implement earlier agreed confidence-building measures and develop further
measures on the basis of the relevant document signed in Sukhumi
on 11 July 2000, and recalls, in this context, the invitation of the Government
of Ukraine to host, in Yalta, a third meeting aimed at building confidence,
improving security and developing cooperation between the parties;
7. Reaffirms the unacceptability of the
demographic changes resulting from the conflict and the imprescriptible
right of all refugees and displaced persons affected by the conflict to return
to their homes in secure and dignified conditions, in accordance with
international law and as set out in the Quadripartite Agreement of 4 April 1994
(S/1994/397, annex II), and calls upon the parties to address this issue
urgently by agreeing and implementing effective measures to guarantee the
security of those who exercise their unconditional right to return, including
those who have already returned;
8. Urges the parties, in this context, to address
urgently and in a concerted manner, as a first step, the undefined and insecure
status of spontaneous returnees to the Gali district,
including through the re-establishment of functioning local administrative
structures in which the returnee population is appropriately represented;
9. Welcomes steps taken by the Government of
Georgia, the United Nations Development Programme,
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the World Bank, aiming at ensuring
that the internally displaced persons enjoy their right to be treated in the
same manner as all Georgian citizens with full respect, in principle and in
practice, for their imprescriptible right to return
to their homes in secure and dignified conditions;
10. Deplores all violent incidents, as well as the
development of criminal activities, in the conflict zone, and calls on the two
sides to take urgent measures to cooperate with each other in the fight against
crime of all sorts and in improving the work of their respective law
enforcement organs;
11. Demands that both sides observe strictly the
Moscow Agreement of 14 May 1994 on a Ceasefire and Separation of Forces
(S/1994/583, annex I);
12. Welcomes UNOMIG keeping its security
arrangements under constant review in order to ensure the highest possible
level of security for its staff;
13. Decides to extend the mandate of UNOMIG for a
new period terminating on 31 January 2001, subject to a review by the Council
of the mandate of UNOMIG in the event of any changes that may be made in the
mandate or in the presence of the CIS peacekeeping force, and expresses its
intention to conduct a thorough review of the operation at the end of its
current mandate, in the light of steps taken by the parties to achieve a
comprehensive settlement;
14. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to
keep the Council regularly informed and to report three months from the date of
the adoption of this resolution on the situation in
15. Decides to remain actively seized of the
matter.
(www.un.org/docs)