UN General Assembly
1998

Georgia and, in accordance with its mandate, to ensure the freedom of its activities. The matter of utmost importance is the safety of UNOMIG personnel in the conflict zone. Their vulnerability was again proved by the recent armed attack against four members of UNOMIG in Sukhumi. In this regard, we wish to emphasize the importance of the proposal of the Secretary-General concerning the deployment of self-protection units. Unfortunately, this question has turned into a subject of endless discussion. Indeed, it is unclear how the deployment of a self- protection unit would contradict the interests of any of the parties to the conflict or any other State, when this step is intended only to facilitate UNOMIG’s intensive monitoring and would contribute to peace in the region. While categorically condemning terrorist acts, regardless of the motives or where these acts might come from, we support the creation of joint investigative teams with clearly defined mandates of action. The turn of events in Abkhazia, Georgia, has shown that some important aspects should be touched upon. First