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Senior officials assess Geneva talks on Abkhazia

Written by Administrator
Sunday, 11 March 2007
Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution and the ambassador of Georgia in the UN, Irakli Alasania have assessed the meeting of the UN friend countries held in Geneva on 12-13 February as successful. The two officials briefed in the office of the state minister on Friday. Antadze and Alasania discussed Georgian-Abkhazian conflict resolution during the visit. Abkhazian side participated in the Geneva talks as well. Merab Antadze said that Georgia raised the issue of delivering humanitarian aid and reinforcement of security measures in Abkhazia's Gali district, area populated by ethnic Georgians. 'We are deeply concerned about the tension in the Gali district and it was the top issue discussed in Geneva. Direct dialogue with the Abkhazs must begin at last,' the minister said. Antadze also commented on the statement of the Russian foreign ministry released yesterday, in which Russia hailed the self-governments elections in Abkhazia as 'fair and democratic. Antadze said Russia's position about the illegal polls was 'undiplomatic and abnormal'. Irakli Alasania said the most significant during these talks was the beginning of direct negotiations with the Abkhazian side. 'Direct dialogue with Abkhazs will begin for the first time and this dialogue will refer to the security issues in Gali district. Georgian state minister Merab Antadze and de facto foreign minister Sergey Shamba will talk on the issues. As for the position of the UN friend countries about the conflict, they said the repatriation of IDPs was the most important at the moment. Emphasizing the IDPs' repatriation on the whole territory of Georgia is our main demand in every document adopted on the conflict issues,' Alasania said. !
Last Updated ( Friday, 06 April 2007 )