Saakashvili Urged UN to Enhance Peace in Abkhazia

Georgian President Saakashvili urged the UN Security Council on February 26 to enhance its efforts to advance peace process in Abkhaz conflict.

Saakashvili said, while appealing the 15-member Security Council that Georgia is committed to the peaceful resolution of the conflict and added that he is ready to guarantee the highest possible degree of autonomy to Abkhazia within the Georgian state.

The UN news centre reported that Georgian President appealed to the Council to work towards ending the “damaging” Russian policies of providing citizenship to people in the conflict region, granting a visa-free regime and illegally acquiring property on Abkhazian soil, all of which reduced chances for lasting security.

At the same time, he said his recent “very constructive” talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin signaled a new era of improved relations between the two countries.

Mr. Saakashvili called the deployment of a civilian UN police unit in the Gali region, on the Abkhaz side of the ceasefire lines, a real and positive step forward that should be fully implemented. It was particularly necessary for the return of refugees, he added.

In his latest report to the Security Council last month UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appealed the Abkhaz side to abandon “uncompromising position.”

Kofi Annan noted that talks on Abkhazia’s future status within Georgia had still not started, with the Abkhaz side continuing to invoke its unilateral 1999 “declaration of independence.”