Breakaway Regions Reject ‘Stage-by-Stage’ Conflict Settlement Plan

Georgia’s breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia both rejected Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s “stage by stage conflict settlement plan,” voiced by the Georgian leader while addressing the UN General Assembly Session on September 21.

Astamur Tania, a political aide to the Abkhaz de facto President, told Itar-Tass news agency that Abkhazia has already “determined its status as an independent country” and the region’s “autonomous status in the Georgian state” can not be even put on the agenda.

South Ossetian de facto Foreign Minister Murat Jioyev told Itar-Tass that “South Ossetia’s integration into the Georgian state is unacceptable” for Tskhinvali. “But we, of course, agree that the conflict should be solved solely through peaceful means,” he added.

President Saakashvili proposes, at the UN General Assembly Session, to launch measures aiming at confidence building between the conflicting sides; demilitarization and decriminalization of the conflict areas; internationalization of the peace process; and offering the broadest form of autonomy for the separatist regions.