Abkhazia insists on changing UN observers' mandate

Sergey Shamba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Abkhazia, has stated today that Abkhazia can stop the UN observers' work in its territory if their mandate is not changed.

"Should the format of their presence fail to meet our requirements, we'll ban it. We can't admit the UN mission in Georgia to Abkhazia," the Reuters quotes Mr Shamba as saying.

The Minister has emphasized that Abkhazia is not against international observers in its territory. "We insist on the mission to go on with its work in Abkhazia, but under amended mandate, as the present one is not valid," Sergey Shamba has stated.

Earlier, the UN Security Council had stated that it would decide on the mandate and the name of the UN mission in Georgia by February 13. The present mandate of the UN observation mission expires on February 15.

From the start of this year, the OSCE observation missions were not admitted to the territory of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, since their mandates failed to consider these republics as independent states. The mandate of the OSCE mission in Georgia expired on December 31, 2008.