US Ambassador Promises to Help Abkhaz Side Solve Alasania “Dilemma”
US Ambassador Richard Miles, who visited Abkhazia to meet with the newly elected local leadership there, told Apsnypress on February 23 he would try to help solve the controversy surrounding the appointment of Irakli Alasania as President Mikheil Saakashvili’s special representative in Abkhaz-Georgian talks.
The Abkhaz leadership refuses to acknowledge Alasania as a counterpart in negotiations, as the latter holds the position of the chairman of the Abkhaz government-in-exile – an entity created from Abkhazia officials and MPs of Georgian ethnicity who fled Abkhazia following conflicts in the region. The Abkhaz secessionist leadership maintains that talks with Alasania would mean recognition of the Abkhazia “government-in-exile”.
Miles was reported as saying that he is aware of this situation and that the issue was discussed with the Abkhaz side.
