Special Forces Hold Kidnappers’ Alleged Hideout under Siege in Kodori

(Tbilisi, June 9 2003, Civil Georgia) – Georgian Special Forces surrounded and blocked villages of Omarishari in Kodori gorge, where the kidnappers of the UN observers are thought to be hiding.

According to the unofficial reports the special operation is planned; however there is no official confirmation of this report.

Georgian President Shevardnadze and State Minister Jorbenadze stated today that the safety of the UN observers is the top priority for the authorities.

“Everything should be done to secure UN personnel’s safety,” Eduard Shevardnadze said in his Monday radiobroadcast on June 9.

UN observers Klaus Ott and Herbert Bauer of Germany and Henrik Soerensen of Denmark, and their Georgian interpreter Lasha Chikashua were kidnapped by the unknown armed group on June 5 while on a routine patrol in troubled Kodori gorge, which is the only part of breakaway Abkhazia under the Georgian authorities’ control.

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