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OO RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR RUEHTRO
DE RUCNDT #0684/01 1942228
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 132228Z JUL 09
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6916
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000684 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/09/2019 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM UNOMIG UNSC RS GG
SUBJECT: GEORGIA: WESTERN FRIENDS DISCUSS FUTURE OF UN WITH 
SECRETARIAT 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  Permreps/Deputy Permreps from the expanded 
Western Friends group (U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Croatia, 
Austria, Turkey and EU Council Secretariat) informally 
discussed the future of UN involvement in Georgia post-UNOMIG 
in a July 9 meeting with A/SYG Mulet (DPKO), A/SYG 
Fernandez-Taranco (DPA) and Kishore Mandhyan (Executive 
Office of the SYG).  Summarizing the sense of the Western 
countries, German Permrep Mattusek said that a continuing UN 
role in the Geneva process is important, and it would 
therefore be important for the SYG to appoint a senior-level 
Special Advisor/Special Envoy to manage the UN 
co-chairmanship of the Geneva process, facilitate the Joint 
Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism, and to engage 
with the interested actors on other confidence building 
measures.  Ambassador DiCarlo said ideas floated by SRSG 
Verbeke to assign some UN personnel to the JIPRM should also 
be considered, and UK Deputy Permrep Parham suggested that 
Verbeke should attempt to negotiate arrangements for the 
continuation of UNHCR and other specialized agencies with 
Georgia and the separatist entities before his departure. 
A/SYG Mulet said that departure of UN police and military 
observers would be complete by mid July, but Verbeke would 
continue his involvement in the Geneva talks through 
September and possibly beyond.  Mulet expressed concern about 
arrangements for passage of UN staff across the 
administrative boundary, as well as Russian buy-in for any 
Special Advisor.  Mandhyan said that a senior-level internal 
meeting on Georgia would take place soon, and that Western 
suggestions would be discussed.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Following up on a July 7 meeting of an expanded 
Western Friends group (U.S., U.K., Germany, France, Croatia, 
Austria, Turkey and EU Council Secretariat) to discuss next 
steps on Georgia, the same group engaged in an informal July 
9 discussion on the future of the UN in Georgia with A/SYG 
Edmund Mulet (Department of Peacekeeping Operations), A/SYG 
Oscar Fernandez-Taranco (Department of Political Affairs) and 
Kishore Mandhyan (Executive Office of the SYG).  Summarizing 
the views of the Ambassadors, German PermRep Thomas Mattusek 
said that a continuing UN role in Georgia would be important 
to manage the UN's co-chairmanship of the Geneva talks, the 
Joint Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism, and to 
engage the parties in other confidence building measures.  He 
suggested that the Secretary-General appoint a Special 
Advisor/Special Envoy to fulfill this role.  Ideally, a 
Special Advisor would be a dedicated position, he said, and 
he/she would need be of sufficient stature to successfully 
engage with all of the interested actors. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Ambassador DiCarlo suggested the Secretariat should 
also consider the ideas floated by SRSG Johan Verbeke during 
the July 1 Geneva round on reinforcing the JIPRM with UN 
staff members.  U.K. Deputy Permrep Phillip Parham emphasized 
the importance of maintaining a UNHCR presence in Georgia, 
including in the Gali region, and he suggested that SRSG 
Verbeke should attempt to negotiate arrangements with Georgia 
and the Abkhaz and South Ossetian de facto authorities during 
his remaining time on the ground.  Parham also suggested 
Verbeke should use his report to the Secretary-General at the 
end of August on the closure of the mission to make 
recommendations on a continuing UN presence. 
 
¶4. (SBU) A/SYG Mulet said that UN police would complete their 
departure by July 12, that military observers would depart by 
July 15 and that the deputy SRSG would depart on July 20. 
Verbeke, he said, would depart in August, but would continue 
his involvement with the Geneva talks through September, and 
possibly beyond. Mulet reassured the group that the SYG 
intended to maintain the UN as one of the Geneva co-chairs, 
and said that the JIPRM was the only mechanism that would 
still have UN involvement.  He added that the UN would 
participate in the July 14 JIPRM meeting in Gali.  Mulet 
reported that during his recent trip to Georgia, de facto 
Abkhaz Foreign Minister Shamba told him he wanted the UN to 
remain in Abkhazia and that it could engage in human rights 
monitoring, humanitarian, and capacity building activities. 
Mulet said any JIPRM staff would need to report to NY 
headquarters.  He pointed out that UNOMIG had formerly 
facilitated the passage of UNHCR staff across the 
administrative boundary (ABL), but would no longer be able to 
do so.  The parties would need to guarantee transit across 
the ABL in order for specialized agencies to successfully 
operate. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Mulet also suggested Russia would need to approve of 
any arrangements related to a Special Advisor. The U.K. 
Deputy Permrep emphasized that the Secretary-General could 
use his own discretion to appoint a Special Advisor, and 
would not need any Council member's approval. Ambassador 
 
USUN NEW Y 00000684  002 OF 002 
 
 
DiCarlo added that Georgia, as a UN member state and host 
country for any UN presence, would need to accept any 
arrangements that involved UN activity in Georgia. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Kishore Mandhyan from the SYG's Executive Office 
said that there would be a senior-level internal UN meeting 
on Georgia in the near future to be chaired by the SYG, and 
that the topics discussed with the Western Friends would be 
useful in preparing for the meeting. 
 
¶7. (C) COMMENT.  We will need to stay in close touch with the 
UN Secretariat in regard to the transition to a post-UNOMIG 
UN presence.  The Secretariat seems much more inclined to 
recognize Russian equities than Georgian ones in negotiating 
arrangements for the continuation of UN activities on the 
ground.  While we will need to be creative when it comes to 
making arrangements for specialized agencies to operate, we 
will also need to ensure that any arrangements do not 
undermine Georgia's territorial integrity.  END COMMENT. 
RICE