Abkhaz PM Meets OSCE High Commissioner
Abkhaz Prime Minister Aleksander Ankvab held talks with Ambassador Rolf Ek?us, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities on November 15 in Sokhumi, the news agency Apsnypress reported.
The issue of observation of human rights in the Georgian-populated Gali district of breakaway Abkhazia was discussed during the talks.
The Georgian side, as well as the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), which observers in the Abkhaz conflict zone, have already stressed the necessity of setting up a branch of the UN/OSCE Sukhumi Office for Human Rights in Gali and making the contingent of the UN Police fully operational in this region.
The UN police component, which currently operates only on the Georgian side of the administrative border – in the Zugdidi district, which borders the unrecognized republic?s Gali district – aims at improving security conditions by assisting in training and equipping local law enforcement agencies.
?We know about all crimes committed in the Gali district and urge the law enforcement agencies to improve their activities to tackle criminality… We control the situation [in the Gali district],? the Abkhaz Prime Minister said.
He also noted that the Abkhaz authorities would take measures to strengthen order in the Gali district of the breakaway region.
Recently, Abkhaz leader Sergei Bagapsh also confirmed his drive to establish firm control on the easternmost Gali district of Abkhazia. According to Bagapsh, such control is necessary to resolve “economic issues, fight crime and protect the rights of the inhabitants.”
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