The Georgian Parliament plans to pass a resolution demanding Russian peacekeepers withdrawal from the Abkhaz conflict zone, MP Kote Gabashvili, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Foreign Affairs, told Civil Georgia on July 13.
?Consultations to develop text of the resolution will start today evening as soon as Parliamentary Chairperson Nino Burjanadze returns from New York,? Gabashvili said.
Nino Burjanadze addressed the UN Security Council in New York on July 11 and slammed Russian peacekeeping troops in the conflict zone and called for their replacement with the UN-led peacekeeping operation.
MP Gabashvili said that the discussion of the resolution might take place either this week, or at the parliamentary session on July 17.
?As soon as the Parliament passes this resolution, mandate of the Russian peacekeepers will be politically ceased,? MP Gabashvili added.
He also said that the Parliament does not deem it necessary listening to the government?s report about the Russian peacekeepers? performance in the Abkhaz conflict zone, ?as we have already heard for numerous times that the government assesses their performance negatively.?
?We will demand peacekeepers pullout and then it is up to the government to secure implementation of this resolution,? MP Gabashvili said.
President Saakashvili said on July 11 that ?Georgian territory?s intensive annexation is taking place behind these peacekeeping troops.?
?Time for making decision on peacekeepers is approaching? We are waiting for the Parliament?s decision about this issue,? Saakashvili said.
Last October, the Parliament passed a resolution saying that Georgia should demand Russian peacekeepers? withdrawal from the Abkhaz conflict zone starting from July 15 if their performance is assessed as negative.
This resolution also envisaged a similar provision in respect of the Russian peacekeeping troops stationed in the South Ossetian conflict zone. As a result, in February, 2006 the Parliament passed a resolution demanding peacekeepers? pullout from South Ossetia, but the document set no timeframe or deadline to the government to implement provisions of the resolution.
The Russian Foreign Ministry warned on July 12 that targeting current peacekeeping operation in Abkhazia might undermine peace process.
In a statement the Russian Foreign Ministry?s spokesman Mikhail Kaminin has also recalled the March 31 resolution of the UN Security Council which says that Russian peacekeeping troops play an important stabilizing role in the conflict zone.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on June 27, ?we will continue to perform our peacekeeping missions, despite open provocations we face.?
The Abkhaz side is also against of Russian peacekeepers? withdrawal.
?Georgia wants forces, which will support Tbilisi?s policy? They are against of Russian peacekeepers because Russians are performing their duties impartially,? Nugzar Ashuba, Chairman of the Abkhaz Parliament, said on July 12, according to the Apsnipress.
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