Friday, October 26, 2007, #205 (1472)

Top conflict issues official goes to Sokhumi

Session in de facto secessionist capital a ‘serious step forward,’ separatist official says, but doesn’t mean dialogue will be resumed

By Eter Tsotniashvili

De facto Abkhaz foreign minister Sergey Shamba says the meeting is a step forward, but not the start of more dialogue

The seven Abkhaz militiamen captured after a deadly September 20 clash will be released soon, State Minister for Conflict Resolution Davit Bakradze announced after a Wednesday meeting with separatist authorities in the de facto Abkhaz capital of Sokhumi.

Both sides were upbeat after the meeting, the first time Tbilisi’s top conflict issues official has visited Sokhumi since then-state minister Goga Khaindrava went in December 2005.

The de facto Abkhaz authorities, however, emphasized that the meeting was not a prelude to restarting the suspended dialogue between Tbilisi and Sokhumi.

Announcing the agreement to release the seven Abkhaz men, Bakradze said, “This is an expression of the Georgian side’s goodwill.”

“The Abkhaz servicemen will be back in Abkhazia with the facilitation of the UN after some formalities are resolved,” he clarified, according to the website of de facto Abkhaz president Sergey Bagapsh.
De facto Abkhaz foreign minister Sergey Shamba assessed the talks as a “serious step forward,” and said that despite stagnation in the negotiating process, “we have opportunities to resolve existing problems. And I hope we will do it.”
His comments come only days after he accused Tbilisi of deploying unmanned aircraft over Kodori Gorge, which is within Abkhazia but partly Georgian-controlled, during an October 23 meeting with David Harland, head of the UN Department on Peacekeeping Operations and Political Affairs.

At the time he accused Georgia of being unwilling to cooperate on the issue of conflict resolution.

“The negotiating process has been suspended and Georgia has no intention of restarting it,” Shamba said, according to news agency RIA Novosti.

Official talks between the two sides were suspended in summer 2006, after Tbilisi deployed troops in upper Kodori Gorge in response to an armed insurrection there, taking partial control of the valley.

Yet Bakradze was optimistic about yesterday’s session, telling journalists it was “very beneficial.”

Going into the meeting, Bakradze talked of reopening a dialogue with the separatist leadership.

“There are a lot of problems and we, the Georgian side, are ready to offer a dialogue,” he declared upon arriving in Sokhumi, according to Rustavi 2.

However, Shamba was more cautious in his statements before the session, emphasizing that the meeting “does not mean the resumption of talks,” and suggesting there were only a few points the de facto authorities wanted to discuss.

“We just need to clarify some of the issues which have appeared recently in the recent UN Security Council resolution [on Abkhazia], as well as in the recommendations of the UN Secretary General’s Group of Friends [on Georgia],” he said, early Wednesday.

The meeting was held at the UN office in Sokhumi and was attended by Jean Arnault, UN Special Representative to Georgia, who described it as a unique opportunity for both sides.

“I hope this meeting will facilitate a renewal of negotiations and play a serious role in conflict resolution,” Arnault commented, according to Rustavi 2.



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