Tbilisi Demands Deployment of UN Police in Gali

Georgian State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Giorgi Khaindrava said that the Abkhaz side continues to fail to curb lawlessness and crime in the predominately Georgian-populated Gali district of the breakaway region.

Khaindrava sent a letter on January 10 to UN Secretary General?s Special Representative to Georgia Heidi Tagliavini and Maj.-Gen. Sergey Chaban, commander of the Russian peacekeeping forces deployed in the Abkhaz conflict zone, demanding that measures be taken to deploy UN police in the Gali district of breakaway Abkhazia.
 
?The Abkhaz side is incapable of controlling the situation on the ground? I suggest the deployment of a civil police component in the district that will lay the foundation for cooperation between the law enforcement agencies of the [Georgian and Abkhaz] sides,? Khaindrava?s letter reads. 

The Police Component of the UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG), which consists of 11 officers, currently operates only on the Georgian side of the administrative border, in the Zugdidi district, which borders the unrecognized republic?s Gali district. The UN police aim at improving security conditions by assisting in training and equipping of local law enforcement agencies.
 
In his letter the Georgian State Minister accused the Russian peacekeeping troops deployed in the conflict zone of failing to foster security in the Gali district.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)