UN Envoy Meets Abkhaz Officials

UN Secretary General?s Special Representative to Georgia Heidi Tagliavini met with Abkhaz leader Sergey Bagapsh and Foreign Minister Sergey Shamba on November 21 in Sokhumi and discussed a draft of the Georgian-Abkhaz declaration on non-resumption of hostilities, Apsnipress news agency reported.

Heidi Tagliavini said during the talks with Sergey Shamba that the UN is concerned over failure to solve many issues which hinder the peace process. The newly adopted Abkhaz law on citizenship, which discriminates against the ethnic Georgian population of Abkhazia – which was forced to flee the region – was also discussed during the meeting, according to the Apsnipress.

The Foreign Minister of breakaway Abkhazia noted that despite problems, ?certain progress? is still being observed in the peace process and he cited cooperation in assessing the railway condition in Abkhazia, as well as the return of Georgian IDPs to the Gali district of Abkhazia. Officials in Tbilisi say that the return of Georgians in Gali district was spontaneous and without any security guarantees there.

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