A joint patrol of UN and Russian peacekeepers ?did not observe any deployment of heavy weapons? in the Tbilisi-controlled upper Kodori Gorge, UN Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) said on March 20.
The monitoring of the gorge was carried out on March 5-7, less than a week before the reported shelling of the villages of the upper Kodori Gorge on March 11; hence the findings of the monitoring does not cover the recent incident in the area.
Security force deployed in the upper Kodori Gorge is made up of 284 personnel from the Georgian Interior Ministry?s criminal police and special task units and 100 locally-recruited border guards.
?UNOMIG has taken note of the MIA?s [Ministry of Internal Affairs] intention to align its presence in the upper Kodori valley with the manning levels elsewhere in the country, and will continue to follow this process,? UNOMIG said in a press release.
?Section weapons (RPG launchers and machine guns) were available for deployment from armouries? The patrol saw boxes of 23mm ammunition. Georgian officials reiterated that there were no heavy weapons corresponding to this ammunition. The patrol recommended that, in accordance with the [1994] Moscow agreement [on ceasefire and separation of forces], the ammunition be withdrawn from the valley,? the press release reads.
It was the third joint monitoring of the upper Kodori Gorge by UN observers and Russian peacekeepers, followed up on two previous patrols, which took place in October and December 2006.
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)