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Criminal regime in Abkhazia and their patrons must be punished

Written by Margarita Gonzalez
Wednesday, 11 April 2007
Text of an interview of Representative of Abkhazian People Mr. Irakli Gagua by the www.abkhazia.com and www.streampress.com Mr. Irakli Gagua, visited New York city and met with Georgian officials, Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogadieli, Ambassador and permanent representative of Georgia to the United Nations Irakli Alasania, Advisor to Prime-Minister of Georgia George Kavelashvili and others. At the end of the visit, Mr. Gagua gave an exclusive interview to www.abkhazia.com and www.streampress.com . Q.: What aspects of interaction have you discussed with your Georgian counterparts? A.: My visit served the purpose of establishing contacts with Mr. Nogadieli, with whom I had not been acquainted previously. We discussed matters of mutual interests. First of all, it is the time frame for Abkhazia. It is extremely dangerous to have a frosen conflict which, unless fought back, may claim the lives of generations of people. The social and economic damage that the conflict hascaused can hardly be estimated. We exert much effort to give correct information about war in Abkhazia to the World. We would like to share our experiences with the Georgian Officials to help them solve this problem. We also talked about the business that we had set together: our partnership to root out post soviet mentality, joint educational researches, and various programs in the sphere of technology, medicine, education, and finances. Among the latter, I would like to specifically single out the efforts to reorient the "vocational degree and non degree education" in the sphere of Medicine and Economics. We have more than 50 active projects, which may fund more than 5,000 staff jobs. Together with the Prime Minister Nogadieli, we discussed a number of additional projects. Q.: Will the projects consider the terrorist threat from separatist regime of Abkhazia? A.: Yes, they will. We are still very worried about that threat. To counter it, it is necessary to exchange data on the problem and share scientific development and methods to protect Georgian citizens. Q.: In the opinion of a number of experts, the United States has managed to take responsibility of spreading democracy around the world, whereas Russia represents a growing threat for Georgia. Do you agree with those assessments? A.: To Georgia, Russia is an important strategic partner. The world needs a strong, democratic Russia. And we consider self-proclaimed Abkhazia to be a threat to Russia too, and a threat to all other countries. Currently Russia is ignoring facts of the ethnic cleanings in Abkhazia, committed by separatists and ignoring rights of 350 000 Abkhazian population (80% of total population) forcibly displaced from their homeland. But 350 000 is a giant force that can, momentarily , sweep away any barriers on their way to the homeland. Q.: How useful would it be for Georgia to use American experience in the sphere of health protection, finance and economics? A.: We are currently trying to suggest reform and improve Georgian health care and educational systems . After the implementation of the newest technologies and strong human rights institute in the Government protected regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia , the people in self-proclaimed regions of Abkhazia & South Ossetia will be able to see the achievments and changes in the social & ecomic spheres of life in the close neirbourhood . !
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 11 April 2007 )