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The foreign minister of Georgia told the Security Council on Friday that a seven-year-old conflict over the breakaway Abkhazia region of his country could draw in other nations and cited the example of Kosovo.
"I just wish to remind the council of the danger that the separatist trend poses to international peace," foreign Minister Irakly Menagarishvili said.
"Drawing from our own experience, one can conclude that if not handled adequately, these conflicts may well graduate to large-scale confrontations, implicating other countries and regions.
"The example of Kosovo clearly indicates the necessity of taking urgent measures in volatile regions to prevent confrontation, by peaceful means, lest the use of force should be the only alternative to action," he added.
Menagarishvili was referring to the recent conflict over Serbia's mainly ethnic Albanian province that eventually involved the 19-nation NATO alliance.
He speaking before the council unanimously approved a six-month renewal, until January 31, 2000, of a 100-member U.N. Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG).
More than 250,000 Georgians and others fled Abkhazia in 1993 when separatists backed by mercenaries and arms from Russia's northern Caucasus region drove out Georgian government troops in a lightning campaign.
About 10,000 people were killed in the civil war that followed.
Despite a 1994 Moscow agreement on a cease-fire and separation of forces, the situation remains highly volatile and little progress has been made in finding a permanent solution.
The council resolution demanded that "the parties to the conflict widen and deepen their commitment" to the U.N.-led peace process.
Despite some positive developments, lack of progress on key issues was unacceptable, it said.
The resolution reiterated previous calls for a comprehensive solution that included "a settlement on the political status of Abkhazia within the state of Georgia, which fully respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders."
The council said plans to hold "self-styled elections" in Abkhazia in the autumn were "unacceptable and illegitimate."
It also reaffirmed the unacceptability of demographic changes resulting from the conflict and the "imprescriptible right of all refugees and displaced persons" to return to their homes in secure conditions.