Tbilisi Ready for Talks with Sokhumi ‘Without Preconditions’

Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili said on January 31 that the Georgian side is ready to launch talks with the Abkhaz de facto authorities “without any preconditions.”

“What we need now is to launch target-oriented negotiations,” Bezhuashvili told reporters on January 31.

Abkhaz leader Sergey Bagapsh reiterated his readiness to hold direct talks with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, providing that the Georgian side demonstrates its commitment to confidence-building measures and if Tbilisi follows the “already signed agreements.”

Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Merab Antadze said on January 31 that Tbilisi “is always ready for talks,” but also added that a high-level meeting “needs prior preparations.”

“I think we [the Georgian and Abkhaz sides] should meet and arrange this [high-level] meeting,” he told reporters.

The proposal for a high-level meeting between the Abkhaz and Georgian sides emerged in late 2005. This potential meeting between Bagapsh and Saakashvili was expected to culminate in the signing of a treaty on non-use of force. In their public statements both Saakashvili and Bagapsh have reiterated on several occasions that they are ready to meet, but little progress has been made to materialize the proposal.

Talks are currently stalled on the treaty on non-resumption of hostilities. Although initially the Abkhaz side was ready to sign the agreement, Sokhumi hesitated after the Georgian side proposed a number of amendments to the document that Sokhumi said were unacceptable.

One of the major controversies over the document is related to the role of Russian peacekeeping troops stationed in the conflict zone, under the aegis of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which Tbilisi wants to replace with an international peacekeeping force.

The Georgian side is also refraining from signing a similar treaty with the South Ossetian seperatist authorities. President Saakashvili made it clear in September 2006 during his address to the UN General Assembly Session in New York that Georgia will sign such an agreement only after the internationalization of the currently Russian-led peacekeeping operation in South Ossetia.

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