Spiegel Reports on Three-Stage Abkhaz Plan
Der Spiegel”s online edition reported some details of the Berlin-proposed plan for Abkhazia.
Phase one of the German plan envisages a year of trust-building measures, involving signing of a treaty on the non-use of force and the beginning of the return of internally displaced persons, according to Der Spiegel. The second phase would see the beginning of reconstruction work, with Berlin organizing a donors’ fundraising conference and the third would involve defining Abkhazia’s political status.
The issue was discussed at a meeting of the UN Secretary General’s Group of Friends of Georgia in Berlin on June 30. France, Germany, Great Britain, Russia and the U.S. are members of the group.
Sergey Shamba, the foreign minister of breakaway Abkhazia, and UN Secretary General’s Special Representative in Georgia Jean Arnault discussed the plan in Sokhumi on July 4.
Shamba told reporters after the meeting that they had discussed “a new project” – outlined at a meeting of the Group of Friends in Berlin. He, however, gave no further details.
“We have our proposals for a settlement, and they have theirs; all of them should be coordinated, and this is a difficult process,” Shamba said. “Some proposals may be unacceptable, some unrealizable, but we cannot stop [discussions]. In any case, we should continue looking for ways to settle problems diplomatically.”
News about the Berlin-proposed plan first emerged in late June, when President Saakashvili visited Germany.
According to information posted on the Georgian President’s website, the three-stage plan involves Russia revoking its April 16 decision and withdrawing extra Russian troops; economic rehabilitation including a free economic zone in Gali and Ochamchire and eventually a political settlement.
