Officials Brief Foreign Diplomats on Kodori

Deputy Georgian Foreign Minister Giorgi Manjgaladze, Deputy Interior Minister Eka Zguladze, Deputy State Minister for Conflict Resolution Issues Giorgi Kaladze and head of the Abkhaz government-in-exile Malkhaz Akishbaia met with foreign diplomats accredited in Georgia on February 8 to brief them about the situation in Tbilisi-controlled upper Kodori Gorge in breakaway Abkhazia.

Russian Ambassador to Georgia Vyacheslav Kovalenko was among foreign diplomats attending the meeting.

?Such meetings have already become a tradition. The interest of diplomatic corps is always great. We plan to hold such meetings on a regular basis in order to submit comprehensive information regarding ongoing developments,? the Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister told reporters after the meeting.

The meeting comes ahead of Georgian-Abkhaz talks that are scheduled for February 12-13 in Geneva under the auspices of the UN Secretary General?s Group of Friend on Georgia, which brings together diplomats from Germany, France, Great Britain, Russia and the United States.

Foreign Minister of breakaway Abkhazia Sergey Shamba, who will be attending the talks in Geneva, said on February 1 that the Abkhaz side will use the Geneva forum to demand the ?full demilitarization? of upper Kodori Gorge.

The Georgian side says it only has police forces stationed in the gorge to provide security. A joint patrol of UN observers and Russian peacekeepers confirmed the presence of about 250 uniformed Georgian personnel wearing Interior Ministry insignia during the monitoring of the gorge in December.

The presence of police forces in upper Kodori Gorge is technically not a violation of the 1994 Moscow cease-fire agreement, which bans the deployment of military troops in the area.

The fact that the headquarters of the Tbilisi-backed Abkhaz government-in-exile is located in upper Kodori Gorge is yet another irritant for Sokhumi.

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