Ethnic conflicts draw UN fact-finding efforts in former Soviet republics.

With the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the outbreak of violent ethnic conflicts in several of its former republics, the UN has become actively involved in mediation and fact-finding efforts in the new nations of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Tajikistan. Following is an overview of some recent developments.

Nagorno-Karabakh

Despite the 19 September ceasefire agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the situation in Nargono-Karabakh - an enclave in Azerbaijan with a mostly Armenian population - remains serious.

Deep concern had been expressed by the Security Council on 26 August over reports of heavy loss of human life and widespread material damage.

Council members strongly appealed to all parties and others concerned for an immediate ceasefire. They supported the efforts of an international conference on Nagorno-Karabakh, to be held in Minsk, Belarus, within the framework of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), as well as ongoing preparatory negotiations in Rome.

Nothing that Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali had dispatched fact-finding missions to the region and was ready to send observers to the CSCE negotiations, Council members said they would consider further the UN role in Nagorno-Karabakh "at am appropriate time", in light of the development of the situation in the area.

A UN mission sent to the region from 4 to 10 July found no evidence of the use chemical weapons by Armenia, as claimed by Azerbaijan.

In a 25 September statement, the Council's five permanent members - China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States - supported the Secretary-General's efforts regarding Nagorno-Karabakh.

Georgia-Abkhazia

A UN mission of good offices was sent to Georgia from 12 to 20 September to study the situation in Abkhazia - an autonomous republic on the Black Sea where ethnic Abkhaz account for 18 per cent of its population - which had declared its own "sovereignty", claiming that it was not part of the independent Republic of Georgia.

Fierce fighting between the Abkhaz separatists and the Georgian troops took place on 14 August, with some 200 dead and hundreds wounded.

A 3 September peace agreement - reached in Moscow by President Boris Yeltsin of the Russian Federation, Eduard Shevardnadze, President of the Georgian State Council, and agreed to by the leaders of Abkhazia - reaffirmed the territorial integrity of Georgia and provided for a cease-fire.

Moldova

The conflict in Moldova's Transdniester region had been at the center of "peaceful settlement efforts" by the Governments of Moldova, Romania, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, the Secretary-General reported on 11 September (A/47/1).

A 21 July agreement, signed by Moldovan President Mircea Snegur and President Yeltsin, provided for the establishment of a trilateral peace-keeping force, with battalions from Moldova, Russia and the Transdniester region to monitor the cease-fire.

President Snegur also stated that the Slav-dominated region, where ethnic Russians and Ukrainians account for some 53 per cent of the population, could decide its own fate should newly-independent Moldova reunite with Romania. Moldova had been part of Romania before being incorporated in 1940 into the Soviet Union. The Dniester region had been an autonomous republic in Ukraine.

A UN fact-finding mission sent to Moldova from 25 to 29 August found the situation "greatly improved". The escalation of violence had been "reversed", it said, and the parties to the conflict had been cooperating in the implementation of most provisions of the 21 July agreement.

However, the Secretary-General in his report warned that the "prevailing conditions remain fragile and could rapidly deteriorate if negotiations towards an overall settlement do not progress more quickly".

Tajikistan

The conflict in Tajikistan - a newly-independent State in Central Asia - is the result of an uprising against acting President Akbarshah Iskandarov by supporter of the republic's former Communist leader, Rakhman Nabiyev, who said they oppose Islamic fundamentalism and want to build a secular State. A UN fact-finding mission visited Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in Central Asia from 13 to 23 September.