May 12, 2005

Abkhazia: Tbilisi and Sokhumi to Discuss Security Issues at UN-led Talks


On 12 May Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Goga Khaindrava will participate in UN-organized talks with the Abkhaz side to discuss security issues in the Abkhaz conflict zone
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Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Goga Khaindrava will visit the Gali district of breakaway Abkhazia on May 12 to participate in UN-organized talks with the Abkhaz side to discuss security issues in the Abkhaz conflict zone. Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergey Shamba will be representing the breakaway region during these talks.

The Georgian State Minister’s press office issued an information note on May 11 outlining the issues which are on the agenda of the talks, which will also reportedly be attended by the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative to Georgia Heidi Tagliavini as well as representatives of the Russian peacekeeping troops stationed in the conflict zone.

The agenda of the meeting includes: means of identifying law enforcement officials in the conflict zone; setting regulations for the type of arms law enforcers will be authorized to carry in the conflict zone; cooperation between the law enforcement agencies of the Georgian and Abkhaz sides; launching of a bus route which will connect the Gali district with the Zugdidi district, in the Samegrelo region; and an exchange of maps of mine fields and the creation of a hot line between the sides.

In a separate information note issued on May 11 the Georgian State Minister’s press office also reported that State Minister Goga Khaindrava will meet with French Ambassador to Georgia Philippe Lefort, who plans “to visit Abkhazia in the near future.”

Source: Civil