May 18, 2004

Abkhazia: Plan emerges for Georgia-Abkhazia federation


Georgia announced that it is working on a plan to settle the conflict with the Abkhazia region by making Georgia a two-unit federation with vast autonomy for Abkhazia
Tbilisi. (Interfax) - Georgia announced on Saturday that it was working a plan to settle the conflict with its breakaway Abkhazia region by making Georgia a two-unit federation with vast autonomy for Abkhazia, one of the authors of the plan told Interfax.

"It's too early to publish" the plan, Giorgi Khaindrava, state minister for separatist conflicts, said in a program on Saturday on Georgia's Rustavi 2 television in which he announced the existence of the plan.

"We intend to propound not so much an organization model for a single state as rules of life for such a state, so that the people of Abkhazia can see what's happening in Georgia," he said.

"Processes should be launched in Georgia that would be of interest to the people of Abkhazia, in particular in the economy and human rights protection. We should make it obvious to our opponents and friends that we intend to live in a civilized world," he said.

He said the plan was currently being considered by the National Security Council.

Source: Interfax