Tbilisi Agrees to Kodori Monitoring

Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili said on August 9 that the UN observers will be able to launch monitoring of upper Kodori Gorge from August 20.

?We will provide transportation and security to UN observers? We will brief foreign diplomats [accredited in Georgia] about it on Tuesday [August 15]. But at the same time, we categorically demand that lower Kodori Gorge be monitored as well,? Bezhuashvili said.

The Foreign Minister was speaking at a news conference after meeting with the Ministers of Defense, Interior, and State. The four Ministers discussed the government?s coordinated actions in respect to Kodori Gorge.

Monitoring of upper Kodori has not been undertaken since June 2003, when UN observers and their interpreter were kidnapped by gunmen while patrolling the gorge. The Abkhaz and Russian sides have pushed for the resumption of Kodori inspections after the Georgian side sent troops there to crack down on a rebel militia group.

Lower Kodori Gorge is controlled by the secessionist authorities of Abkhazia. The upper and lower parts of Kodori Gorge are currently separated by Russian peacekeeper checkpoints.

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