Vanuatu ambassador: Who told you we’re recognizing Abkhazia? [Updated]
Last week’s item on the recognition of Abkhazian independence by the tiny pacific nation of Vanuatu may have been premature, the New York Times reports: Ambassador Donald Kalpokas, Vanuatu’s permanent representative to the United Nations, said officials in Port-Vila, the capital, have not recognized Abkhazia, a Black Sea territory that has long sought to break ...
Last week's item on the recognition of Abkhazian independence by the tiny pacific nation of Vanuatu may have been premature, the New York Times reports:
Last week’s item on the recognition of Abkhazian independence by the tiny pacific nation of Vanuatu may have been premature, the New York Times reports:
Ambassador Donald Kalpokas, Vanuatu’s permanent representative to the United Nations, said officials in Port-Vila, the capital, have not recognized Abkhazia, a Black Sea territory that has long sought to break away from Georgia.[…]
“I have asked my capital whether this is true and they denied it emphatically,” Mr. Kalpokas said in a telephone interview from New York. “We don’t know who is responsible for declaring that this is true. As far as we are concerned, we are dealing with Georgia, not Abkhazia.”
He added: “It is defamation for our country. This is disrespect.”
Abkhazia is sticking with their story:
Abkhazia’s foreign minister, Maxim Gundjia, said the recognition document had been shuttled between Abkhazia and Vanuatu via air freight and was signed by the prime ministers of Vanuatu and Abkhazia on May 23. He said negotiations with Vanuatu’s premier, Sato Kilman, had taken three months.
“He has the right to make this decision,” Mr. Gundjia said. “I would never publish such news if I didn’t have confirmation.” He added that “no one paid anyone anything.”
It seems unlikely that this is the sort of thing the Abkhazian government would just make up. Seems like either someone in Port-Vila got their signals crossed or someone made Vanuatu an offer it couldn’t refuse over the weekend.
Updated: Looks like it was the ambassador that was confused. The prime minister’s office has confirmed the recognition.
Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating
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