UN EXTENDS MANDATE OF ABKHAZ OBSERVER FORCE

The UN Security Council voted on 28 January to extend for a further six months the mandate of its observer force deployed in Abkhazia (UNOMIG).

At the same time, it condemned as unacceptable the lack of progress toward a negotiated settlement of the conflict.

Also on 28 January, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Yakovenko rejected the accusation by Georgia's Ambassador to the UN Revaz Adamia that Russia was responsible for his exclusion from a 26 January UN Security Council discussion of the situation in Abkhazia.