Georgian rebels seek greater EU recognition

LEIGH PHILLIPS

25.08.2008 @ 18:00 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia is keen to get EU recognition as an independent country, after the Russian parliament passed a resolution urging the Russian president to endorse Georgian rebels' ambitions of statehood.

"We are not interested in only Russia recognising us," Abkhaz deputy foreign minister, Maxim Gunjia, told EUobserver on Monday (25 August), adding that he expects Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to shortly back the pro-independence vote by Russian MPs.

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"We want the European Union and all states to recognise our independence. This is a very positive moment for the EU - it could follow Russia's example and also recognise Abkhazia. It is the only way to preserve stability and peace in the region."

"We recognise that full recognition is a very big demand of Abkhazia for the EU at the moment," Mr Gunja added, indicating that Abkhazia would also be interested in other ways of increasing its presence on the international stage.

"The EU could instead give a voice to Abkhazia in various European forums and institutions," he said. "Only Georgia is invited to such forums while discussing the Caucasus, which is why the information the EU is receiving is biased, and why the conflict became possible."

The lower house and the upper house of the Russian parliament on Monday both unanimously voted through a resolution urging Mr Medvedev to recognise Abkhazia and a second Georgian rebel territory, South Ossetia, as independent states.

The resolution has a largely symbolic value so far, as the legal decision resides solely with the Russian president, with some western experts doubting the Kremlin will follow through.

"The game is completely open, but it would be much more reasonable for Medvedev not to do so. If he doesn't, he holds onto a very powerful bargaining chip with regards to the EU and US, and Georgia itself," conflict prevention think-tank, the International Crisis Group (ICG), analyst, Alain Deletroz, said.

"If he wants to turn a military victory into a diplomatic victory, he will not recognise [the rebel enclaves], because it will then become extremely difficult for the EU to keep an open dialogue with Moscow," Mr Deletroz explained. "What Russia wanted was a division within NATO. If they go too far, they will only achieve the opposite - a unification within the alliance."

The China angle

"Even for the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation [the China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan security alliance], recognition would create problems. For the same reasons that China was not happy with the West's recognition of Kosovo, Beijing would also not be happy with Russian recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia," the ICG expert added, pointing to China's discomfort over its own separatist problems, such as Taiwan.

The European Commission was reluctant to issue any reaction to the Russian parliamentary vote ahead of next week's extraordinary summit on EU-Russia relations, but the EU has repeatedly said it supports Georgia's "territorial integrity."

"The debate is ongoing in Russia, and we will not react as long as the debate is ongoing," European Commission spokesperson, Ton Van Lierop, told reporters in Brussels.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Tbilisi in civil wars in the 1990s, setting up de facto states with their own mini-parliaments and paramilitary forces within Georgia's internationally-recognised borders during a tense, 15-year long ceasefire that erupted into open conflict on 7 August.

Tbilisi has accused Russia of giving the rebels financial and political backing, as well as arms, in order to keep NATO and EU-aspirant Georgia divided. It also accuses the separatist and Russian forces of "ethnic cleansing" in pushing out the last remaining ethnic Georgians from the two territories during the recent war.